The Project Gutenberg EBook of East of the Sun and West of the Moon, by 
Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Engebretsen Moe

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Title: East of the Sun and West of the Moon
       Old Tales from the North

Author: Peter Christen Asbjørnsen
        Jørgen Engebretsen Moe

Illustrator: Kay Nielsen

Release Date: January 15, 2010 [EBook #30973]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EAST OF THE SUN ***




Produced by Suzanne Shell, Dan Horwood and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
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[Illustration: He too saw the image in the water; but he looked up at
once, and became aware of the lovely Lassie who sate there up in the
tree. Page 70]




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  EAST OF THE SUN AND
  WEST OF THE MOON

  OLD TALES FROM THE NORTH


  ILLUSTRATED BY
  KAY NIELSEN


  NEW YORK
  GEORGE H DORAN COMPANY




                  *       *       *       *       *




PREFACE


A folk-tale, in its primitive plainness of word and entire absence of
complexity in thought, is peculiarly sensitive and susceptible to the
touch of stranger hands; and he who has been able to acquaint himself
with the _Norske Folkeeventyr_ of Asbjörnsen and Moe (from which these
stories are selected), has an advantage over the reader of an English
rendering. Of this advantage Mr. Kay Nielsen has fully availed
himself: and the exquisite _bizarrerie_ of his drawings aptly
expresses the innermost significance of the old-world, old-wives'
fables. For to term these legends, Nursery Tales, would be to curtail
them, by nine-tenths, of their interest. They are the romances of the
childhood of Nations: they are the never-failing springs of sentiment,
of sensation, of heroic example, from which primeval peoples drank
their fill at will.

The quaintness, the tenderness, the grotesque yet realistic
intermingling of actuality with supernaturalism, by which the
original _Norske Folkeeventyr_ are characterised, will make an appeal
to all, as represented in the pictures of Kay Nielsen. And these
imperishable traditions, whose bases are among the very roots of all
antiquity, are here reincarnated in line and colour, to the delight of
all who ever knew or now shall know them.

Permission to reprint the Stories in this book, which originally
appeared in Sir G. W. Dasent's "Popular Tales from the Norse," has
been obtained from Messrs. George Routledge & Sons, Ltd. THE THREE
PRINCESSES IN THE BLUE MOUNTAIN is printed by arrangement with Messrs.
David Nutt; and PRINCE LINDWORM is newly translated for this volume.




CONTENTS


                                                                  PAGE
  EAST OF THE SUN AND WEST OF THE MOON                               9
  THE BLUE BELT                                                     29
  PRINCE LINDWORM                                                   53
  THE LASSIE AND HER GODMOTHER                                      65
  THE HUSBAND WHO WAS TO MIND THE HOUSE                             75
  THE LAD WHO WENT TO THE NORTH WIND                                79
  THE THREE PRINCESSES OF WHITELAND                                 85
  SORIA MORIA CASTLE                                                97
  THE GIANT WHO HAD NO HEART IN HIS BODY                           117
  THE PRINCESS ON THE GLASS HILL                                   131
  THE WIDOW'S SON                                                  149
  THE THREE BILLY GOATS GRUFF                                      167
  THE THREE PRINCESSES IN THE BLUE MOUNTAIN                        171
  THE CAT ON THE DOVREFELL                                         200
  ONE'S OWN CHILDREN ARE ALWAYS PRETTIEST                          203




ILLUSTRATIONS


  EAST OF THE SUN AND
  WEST OF THE MOON
                                                                  Page
    "Well, mind and hold tight by my shaggy coat, and
        then there's nothing to fear," said the Bear, so
        she rode a long, long way                                    9
    "Tell me the way, then," she said, "and I'll search
        you out"                                                    16
    And then she lay on a little green patch in the
        midst of the gloomy thick wood                              24
    The North Wind goes over the sea                                32
    And flitted away as far as they could from the
        Castle that lay East of the Sun and West of the
        Moon                                                        40

  THE BLUE BELT

    The Lad in the Bear's skin, and the King of Arabia's
        daughter                                                    48

  PRINCE LINDWORM

    She saw the Lindworm for the first time, as he came
        in and stood by her side                                    56

  THE LASSIE AND HER GODMOTHER

    She could not help setting the door a little ajar,
        just to peep in, when--Pop! out flew the Moon               64
    Then he coaxed her down and took her home                       72
    "Here are your children; now you shall have them
        again. I am the Virgin Mary"                                80
    He too saw the image in the water; but he looked up
        at once, and became aware of the lovely Lassie
        who sate there up in the tree                     FRONTISPIECE

  THE THREE PRINCESSES OF WHITELAND

    "You'll come to three Princesses, whom you will see
        standing in the earth up to their necks, with
        only their heads out"                                       88
    So the man gave him a pair of snow shoes                        96
    The King went into the Castle, and at first his
        Queen didn't know him, he was so wan and thin,
        through wandering so far and being so woeful               104

  THE GIANT WHO HAD
  NO HEART IN HIS BODY

    The six brothers riding out to woo                             112
    "On that island stands a church; in that church is a
        well; in that well swims a duck"                           120
    He took a long, long farewell of the Princess, and
        when he got out of the Giant's door, there stood
        the Wolf waiting for him                                   128

  THE WIDOW'S SON

    When he had walked a day or so, a strange man met
        him. "Whither away?" asked the man                         136
    But still the Horse begged him to look behind him              144
    And this time she whisked off the wig; and there lay
        the lad, so lovely, and white and red, just as
        the Princess had seen him in the morning sun               152
    The Lad in the Battle                                          160

  THE THREE PRINCESSES
  IN THE BLUE MOUNTAIN

    Just as they bent down to take the rose a big dense
        snowdrift came and carried them away                       168
    The Troll was quite willing, and before long he fell
        asleep and began snoring                                   176
    As soon as they tugged at the rope, the Captain and
        the Lieutenant pulled up the Princesses, the one
        after the other                                            184
    No sooner had he whistled than he heard a whizzing
        and a whirring from all quarters, and such a
        large flock of birds swept down that they
        blackened all the field in which they settled              192




EAST OF THE SUN AND WEST OF THE MOON


Once on a time there was a poor husbandman who had so many children
that he hadn't much of either food or clothing to give them. Pretty
children they all were, but the prettiest was the youngest daughter,
who was so lovely there was no end to her loveliness.

So one day, 'twas on a Thursday evening late at the fall of the year,
the weather was so wild and rough outside, and it was so cruelly dark,
and rain fell and wind blew, till the walls of the cottage shook
again. There they all sat round the fire, busy with this thing and
that. But just then, all at once something gave three taps on the
window-pane. Then the father went out to see what was the matter; and,
when he got out of doors, what should he see but a great big _White
Bear_.

"Good-evening to you!" said the _White Bear_.

"The same to you!" said the man.

"Will you give me your youngest daughter? If you will, I'll make you
as rich as you are now poor," said the _Bear_.

Well, the man would not be at all sorry to be so rich; but still he
thought he must have a bit of a talk with his daughter first; so he
went in and told them how there was a great _White Bear_ waiting
outside, who had given his word to make them so rich if he could only
have the youngest daughter.

The lassie said "No!" outright. Nothing could get her to say anything
else; so the man went out and settled it with the _White Bear_ that he
should come again the next Thursday evening and get an answer.
Meantime he talked his daughter over, and kept on telling her of all
the riches they would get, and how well off she would be herself; and
so at last she thought better of it, and washed and mended her rags,
made herself as smart as she could, and was ready to start. I can't
say her packing gave her much trouble.

[Illustration: "Well, mind and hold tight by my shaggy coat, and then
there's nothing to fear," said the Bear, so she rode a long, long way.]

Next Thursday evening came the _White Bear_ to fetch her, and she got
upon his back with her bundle, and off they went. So, when they had
gone a bit of the way, the _White Bear_ said:

"Are you afraid?"

"No," she wasn't.

"Well! mind and hold tight by my shaggy coat, and then there's
nothing to fear," said the _Bear_.

So she rode a long, long way, till they came to a great steep hill.
There, on the face of it, the _White Bear_ gave a knock, and a door
opened, and they came into a castle where there were many rooms all
lit up; rooms gleaming with silver and gold; and there, too, was a
table ready laid, and it was all as grand as grand could be. Then the
_White Bear_ gave her a silver bell; and when she wanted anything, she
was only to ring it, and she would get it at once.

Well, after she had eaten and drunk, and evening wore on, she got
sleepy after her journey, and thought she would like to go to bed, so
she rang the bell; and she had scarce taken hold of it before she came
into a chamber where there was a bed made, as fair and white as any
one would wish to sleep in, with silken pillows and curtains and gold
fringe. All that was in the room was gold or silver; but when she had
gone to bed and put out the light, a man came and laid himself
alongside her. That was the _White Bear_, who threw off his beast
shape at night; but she never saw him, for he always came after she
had put out the light, and before the day dawned he was up and off
again. So things went on happily for a while, but at last she began to
get silent and sorrowful; for there she went about all day alone, and
she longed to go home to see her father and mother and brothers and
sisters. So one day, when the _White Bear_ asked what it was that she
lacked, she said it was so dull and lonely there, and how she longed
to go home to see her father and mother and brothers and sisters, and
that was why she was so sad and sorrowful, because she couldn't get to
them.

"Well, well!" said the _Bear_, "perhaps there's a cure for all this;
but you must promise me one thing, not to talk alone with your mother,
but only when the rest are by to hear; for she'll take you by the hand
and try to lead you into a room alone to talk; but you must mind and
not do that, else you'll bring bad luck on both of us."

So one Sunday the _White Bear_ came and said, now they could set off
to see her father and mother. Well, off they started, she sitting on
his back; and they went far and long. At last they came to a grand
house, and there her brothers and sisters were running about out of
doors at play, and everything was so pretty, 'twas a joy to see.

"This is where your father and mother live now," said the _White
Bear_; "but don't forget what I told you, else you'll make us both
unlucky."

"No! bless her, she'd not forget;"--and when she had reached the
house, the _White Bear_ turned right about and left her.

Then, when she went in to see her father and mother, there was such
joy, there was no end to it. None of them thought they could thank her
enough for all she had done for them. Now, they had everything they
wished, as good as good could be, and they all wanted to know how she
got on where she lived.

Well, she said, it was very good to live where she did; she had all
she wished. What she said beside I don't know, but I don't think any
of them had the right end of the stick, or that they got much out of
her. But so, in the afternoon, after they had done dinner, all
happened as the _White Bear_ had said. Her mother wanted to talk with
her alone in her bedroom; but she minded what the _White Bear_ had
said, and wouldn't go upstairs.

"Oh! what we have to talk about will keep!" she said, and put her
mother off. But, somehow or other, her mother got round her at last,
and she had to tell her the whole story. So she said, how every night
when she had gone to bed a man came and lay down beside her as soon as
she had put out the light; and how she never saw him, because he was
always up and away before the morning dawned; and how she went about
woeful and sorrowing, for she thought she should so like to see him;
and how all day long she walked about there alone; and how dull and
dreary and lonesome it was.

"My!" said her mother; "it may well be a Troll you slept with! But now
I'll teach you a lesson how to set eyes on him. I'll give you a bit of
candle, which you can carry home in your bosom; just light that while
he is asleep, but take care not to drop the tallow on him."

Yes! she took the candle and hid it in her bosom, and as night drew
on, the _White Bear_ came and fetched her away.

But when they had gone a bit of the way, the _White Bear_ asked if all
hadn't happened as he had said.

"Well, she couldn't say it hadn't."

"Now, mind," said he, "if you have listened to your mother's advice,
you have brought bad luck on us both, and then, all that has passed
between us will be as nothing."

"No," she said, "she hadn't listened to her mother's advice."

So when she reached home, and had gone to bed, it was the old story
over again. There came a man and lay down beside her; but at dead of
night, when she heard he slept, she got up and struck a light, lit the
candle, and let the light shine on him, and so she saw that he was the
loveliest _Prince_ one ever set eyes on, and she fell so deep in love
with him on the spot, that she thought she couldn't live if she didn't
give him a kiss there and then. And so she did; but as she kissed him,
she dropped three hot drops of tallow on his shirt, and he woke up.

"What have you done?" he cried; "now you have made us both unlucky,
for had you held out only this one year, I had been freed. For I have
a step-mother who has bewitched me, so that I am a _White Bear_ by
day, and a _Man_ by night. But now all ties are snapt between us; now
I must set off from you to her. She lives in a Castle which stands
_East of the Sun and West of the Moon_, and there, too, is a
_Princess_, with a nose three ells long, and she's the wife I must
have now."

She wept and took it ill, but there was no help for it; go he must.

Then she asked if she mightn't go with him.

No, she mightn't.

"Tell me the way, then," she said, "and I'll search you out; _that_
surely I may get leave to do."

[Illustration: "Tell me the way, then," she said, "and I'll search you
out."]

"Yes," she might do that, he said; "but there was no way to that
place. It lay _East of the Sun and West of the Moon_, and thither
she'd never find her way."

So next morning, when she woke up, both _Prince_ and castle were gone,
and then she lay on a little green patch, in the midst of the gloomy
thick wood, and by her side lay the same bundle of rags she had
brought with her from her old home.

[Illustration: And then she lay on a little green patch in the midst of
the gloomy thick wood.]

So when she had rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, and wept till she
was tired, she set out on her way, and walked many, many days, till
she came to a lofty crag. Under it sat an old hag, and played with a
gold apple which she tossed about. Here the lassie asked if she knew
the way to the Prince, who lived with his step-mother in the Castle,
that lay _East of the Sun and West of the Moon_, and who was to marry
the _Princess_ with a nose three ells long.

"How did you come to know about him?" asked the old hag; "but maybe
you are the lassie who ought to have had him?"

Yes, she was.

"So, so; it's you, is it?" said the old hag. "Well, all I know about
him is, that he lives in the castle that lies _East of the Sun and
West of the Moon_, and thither you'll come, late or never; but still
you may have the loan of my horse, and on him you can ride to my next
neighbour. Maybe she'll be able to tell you; and when you get there,
just give the horse a switch under the left ear, and beg him to be off
home; and, stay, this gold apple you may take with you."

So she got upon the horse, and rode a long, long time, till she came
to another crag, under which sat another old hag, with a gold
carding-comb. Here the lassie asked if she knew the way to the castle
that lay _East of the Sun and West of the Moon_, and she answered,
like the first old hag, that she knew nothing about it, except it was
east of the sun and west of the moon.

"And thither you'll come, late or never, but you shall have the loan
of my horse to my next neighbour; maybe she'll tell you all about it;
and when you get there, just switch the horse under the left ear, and
beg him to be off home."

And this old hag gave her the golden carding-comb; it might be she'd
find some use for it, she said. So the lassie got up on the horse, and
rode a far, far way, and a weary time; and so at last she came to
another great crag, under which sat another old hag, spinning with a
golden spinning-wheel. Her, too, she asked if she knew the way to the
_Prince_, and where the castle was that lay _East of the Sun and West
of the Moon_. So it was the same thing over again.

"Maybe it's you who ought to have had the _Prince_?" said the old
hag.

Yes, it was.

But she, too, didn't know the way a bit better than the other two.
"East of the sun and west of the moon it was," she knew--that was
all.

"And thither you'll come, late or never; but I'll lend you my horse,
and then I think you'd best ride to the East Wind and ask him; maybe
he knows those parts, and can blow you thither. But when you get to
him, you need only give the horse a switch under the left ear, and
he'll trot home of himself."

And so, too, she gave her the gold spinning-wheel. "Maybe you'll find
a use for it," said the old hag.

Then on she rode many many days, a weary time, before she got to the
East Wind's house, but at last she did reach it, and then she asked
the East Wind if he could tell her the way to the _Prince_ who dwelt
east of the sun and west of the moon. Yes, the East Wind had often
heard tell of it, the _Prince_ and the castle, but he couldn't tell
the way, for he had never blown so far.

"But, if you will, I'll go with you to my brother the West Wind, maybe
he knows, for he's much stronger. So, if you will just get on my
back, I'll carry you thither."

Yes, she got on his back, and I should just think they went briskly
along.

So when they got there, they went into the West Wind's house, and the
East Wind said the lassie he had brought was the one who ought to have
had the _Prince_ who lived in the castle _East of the Sun and West of
the Moon_; and so she had set out to seek him, and how he had come
with her, and would be glad to know if the West Wind knew how to get
to the castle.

"Nay," said the West Wind, "so far I've never blown; but if you will,
I'll go with you to our brother the South Wind, for he's much stronger
than either of us, and he has flapped his wings far and wide. Maybe
he'll tell you. You can get on my back, and I'll carry you to him."

Yes! she got on his back, and so they travelled to the South Wind, and
weren't so very long on the way, I should think.

When they got there, the West Wind asked him if he could tell her the
way to the castle that lay _East of the Sun and West of the Moon_, for
it was she who ought to have had the _Prince_ who lived there.

"You don't say so! That's she, is it?" said the South Wind.

"Well, I have blustered about in most places in my time, but so far
have I never blown; but if you will, I'll take you to my brother the
North Wind; he is the oldest and strongest of the whole lot of us, and
if he don't know where it is, you'll never find any one in the world
to tell you. You can get on my back, and I'll carry you thither."

Yes! she got on his back, and away he went from his house at a fine
rate. And this time, too, she wasn't long on her way.

So when they got to the North Wind's house, he was so wild and cross,
cold puffs came from him a long way off.

"BLAST YOU BOTH, WHAT DO YOU WANT?" he roared out to them ever so far
off, so that it struck them with an icy shiver.

"Well," said the South Wind, "you needn't be so foul-mouthed, for here
I am, your brother, the South Wind, and here is the lassie who ought
to have had the _Prince_ who dwells in the castle that lies _East of
the Sun and West of the Moon_, and now she wants to ask you if you
ever were there, and can tell her the way, for she would be so glad to
find him again."

"YES, I KNOW WELL ENOUGH WHERE IT IS," said the North Wind; "once in
my life I blew an aspen-leaf thither, but, I was so tired I couldn't
blow a puff for ever so many days, after. But if you really wish to go
thither, and aren't afraid to come along with me, I'll take you on my
back and see if I can blow you thither."

Yes! with all her heart; she must and would get thither if it were
possible in any way; and as for fear, however madly he went, she
wouldn't be at all afraid.

"Very well, then," said the North Wind, "but you must sleep here
to-night, for we must have the whole day before us, if we're to get
thither at all."

Early next morning the North Wind woke her, and puffed himself up, and
blew himself out, and made himself so stout and big, 'twas gruesome to
look at him; and so off they went high up through the air, as if they
would never stop till they got to the world's end.

Down here below there was such a storm; it threw down long tracts of
wood and many houses, and when it swept over the great sea, ships
foundered by hundreds.

[Illustration: The North Wind goes over the sea.]

So they tore on and on--no one can believe how far they went--and all
the while they still went over the sea, and the North Wind got more
and more weary, and so out of breath he could scarce bring out a puff,
and his wings drooped and drooped, till at last he sunk so low that
the crests of the waves dashed over his heels.

"Are you afraid?" said the North Wind.

"No!" she wasn't.

But they weren't very far from land; and the North Wind had still so
much strength left in him that he managed to throw her up on the shore
under the windows of the castle which lay _East of the Sun and West of
the Moon_; but then he was so weak and worn out, he had to stay there
and rest many days before he could get home again.

Next morning the lassie sat down under the castle window, and began to
play with the gold apple; and the first person she saw was the
_Long-nose_ who was to have the _Prince_.

"What do you want for your gold apple, you lassie?" said the
_Long-nose_, and threw up the window.

"It's not for sale, for gold or money," said the lassie.

"If it's not for sale for gold or money, what is it that you will sell
it for? You may name your own price," said the _Princess_.

"Well! if I may get to the _Prince_, who lives here, and be with him
to-night, you shall have it," said the lassie whom the North Wind had
brought.

Yes! she might; that could be done. So the _Princess_ got the gold
apple; but when the lassie came up to the _Prince's_ bed-room at night
he was fast asleep; she called him and shook him, and between whiles
she wept sore; but all she could do she couldn't wake him up. Next
morning, as soon as day broke, came the _Princess_ with the long nose,
and drove her out again.

So in the daytime she sat down under the castle windows and began to
card with her carding-comb, and the same thing happened. The
_Princess_ asked what she wanted for it; and she said it wasn't for
sale for gold or money, but if she might get leave to go up to the
_Prince_ and be with him that night, the _Princess_ should have it.
But when she went up she found him fast asleep again, and all she
called, and all she shook, and wept, and prayed, she couldn't get life
into him; and as soon as the first gray peep of day came, then came
the _Princess_ with the long nose, and chased her out again.

So, in the daytime, the lassie sat down outside under the castle
window, and began to spin with her golden spinning-wheel, and that,
too, the _Princess_ with the long nose wanted to have. So she threw up
the window and asked what she wanted for it. The lassie said, as she
had said twice before, it wasn't for sale for gold or money; but if
she might go up to the _Prince_ who was there, and be with him alone
that night, she might have it.

Yes! she might do that and welcome. But now you must know there were
some Christian folk who had been carried off thither, and as they sat
in their room, which was next the _Prince_, they had heard how a woman
had been in there, and wept and prayed, and called to him two nights
running, and they told that to the _Prince_.

That evening, when the _Princess_ came with her sleepy drink, the
_Prince_ made as if he drank, but threw it over his shoulder, for he
could guess it was a sleepy drink. So, when the lassie came in, she
found the _Prince_ wide awake; and then she told him the whole story
how she had come thither.

"Ah," said the _Prince_, "you've just come in the very nick of time,
for to-morrow is to be our wedding-day; but now I won't have the
_Long-nose_, and you are the only woman in the world who can set me
free. I'll say I want to see what my wife is fit for, and beg her to
wash the shirt which has the three spots of tallow on it; she'll say
yes, for she doesn't know 'tis you who put them there; but that's a
work only for Christian folk, and not for such a pack of Trolls, and
so I'll say that I won't have any other for my bride than the woman
who can wash them out, and ask you to do it."

So there was great joy and love between them all that night. But next
day, when the wedding was to be, the _Prince_ said:

"First of all, I'd like to see what my bride is fit for."

"Yes!" said the step-mother, with all her heart.

"Well," said the _Prince_, "I've got a fine shirt which I'd like for
my wedding shirt, but somehow or other it has got three spots of
tallow on it, which I must have washed out; and I have sworn never to
take any other bride than the woman who's able to do that. If she
can't, she's not worth having."

Well, that was no great thing they said, so they agreed, and she with
the long-nose began to wash away as hard as she could, but the more
she rubbed and scrubbed, the bigger the spots grew.

"Ah!" said the old hag, her mother, "you can't wash; let me try."

But she hadn't long taken the shirt in hand before it got far worse
than ever, and with all her rubbing, and wringing, and scrubbing, the
spots grew bigger and blacker, and the darker and uglier was the
shirt.

Then all the other Trolls began to wash, but the longer it lasted, the
blacker and uglier the shirt grew, till at last it was as black all
over as if it had been up the chimney.

"Ah!" said the _Prince_, "you're none of you worth a straw; you can't
wash. Why there, outside, sits a beggar lassie, I'll be bound she
knows how to wash better than the whole lot of you. COME IN, LASSIE!"
he shouted.

Well, in she came.

"Can you wash this shirt clean, lassie you?" said he.

"I don't know," she said, "but I think I can."

And almost before she had taken it and dipped it in the water, it was
as white as driven snow, and whiter still.

"Yes; you are the lassie for me," said the _Prince_.

At that the old hag flew into such a rage, she burst on the spot, and
the _Princess_ with the long nose after her, and the whole pack of
Trolls after her--at least I've never heard a word about them since.

As for the _Prince_ and _Princess_, they set free all the poor
Christian folk who had been carried off and shut up there; and they
took with them all the silver and gold, and flitted away as far as
they could from the Castle that lay _East of the Sun and West of the
Moon_.

[Illustration: And flitted away as far as they could from the Castle that
lay East of the Sun and West of the Moon.]




THE BLUE BELT


Once on a time there was an old beggar-woman, who had gone out to beg.
She had a little lad with her, and when she had got her bag full she
struck across the hills towards her own home. So when they had gone a
bit up the hill-side, they came upon a little _Blue Belt_ which lay
where two paths met, and the lad asked his mother's leave to pick it
up.

"No," said she, "maybe there's witchcraft in it;" and so with threats
she forced him to follow her. But when they had gone a bit further,
the lad said he must turn aside a moment out of the road; and
meanwhile his mother sat down on a tree-stump. But the lad was a long
time gone, for as soon as he got so far into the wood that the old
dame could not see him, he ran off to where the _Belt_ lay, took it
up, tied it round his waist, and lo! he felt as strong as if he could
lift the whole hill. When he got back, the old dame was in a great
rage, and wanted to know what he had been doing all that while. "You
don't care how much time you waste, and yet you know the night is
drawing on, and we must cross the hill before it is dark!" So on they
tramped; but when they had got about half-way, the old dame grew
weary, and said she must rest under a bush.

"Dear mother," said the lad, "mayn't I just go up to the top of this
high crag while you rest, and try if I can't see some sign of folk
hereabouts?"

Yes! he might do that; so when he had got to the top he saw a light
shining from the north. So he ran down and told his mother.

"We must get on, mother; we are near a house, for I see a bright light
shining quite close to us in the north." Then she rose and shouldered
her bag, and set off to see; but they hadn't gone far, before there
stood a steep spur of the hill, right across their path.

"Just as I thought!" said the old dame, "now we can't go a step
farther; a pretty bed we shall have here!"

But the lad took the bag under one arm, and his mother under the
other, and ran straight up the steep crag with them.

"Now, don't you see? Don't you see that we are close to a house? Don't
you see that bright light?"

But the old dame said those were no Christian folk, but _Trolls_, for
she was at home in all that forest far and near, and knew there was
not a living soul in it, until you were well over the ridge and had
come down on the other side. But they went on, and in a little while
they came to a great house which was all painted red.

"What's the good?" said the old dame. "We daren't go in, for here the
_Trolls_ live."

"Don't say so; we must go in. There must be men where the lights shine
so," said the lad. So in he went, and his mother after him, but he had
scarce opened the door before she swooned away, for there she saw a
great stout man, at least twenty feet high, sitting on the bench.

"Good evening, grandfather!" said the lad.

"Well, here I've sat three hundred years," said the man who sat on the
bench, "and no one has ever come and called me grandfather before."
Then the lad sat down by the man's side, and began to talk to him as
if they had been old friends.

"But what's come over your mother?" said the man, after they had
chatted a while. "I think she swooned away; you had better look after
her."

So the lad went and took hold of the old dame, and dragged her up the
hall along the floor. That brought her to herself, and she kicked and
scratched, and flung herself about, and at last sat down upon a heap
of firewood in the corner; but she was so frightened that she scarce
dared to look one in the face.

After a while, the lad asked if they could spend the night there.

"Yes, to be sure," said the man.

So they went on talking again, but the lad soon got hungry, and wanted
to know if they could get food as well as lodging.

"Of course," said the man, "that might be got too." And after he had
sat a while longer, he rose up and threw six loads of dry pitch-pine
on the fire. This made the old hag still more afraid.

"Oh! now he's going to roast us alive," she said, in the corner where
she sat.

And when the wood had burned down to glowing embers, up got the man
and strode out of his house.

"Heaven bless and help us! what a stout heart you have got!" said the
old dame. "Don't you see we have got amongst _Trolls_?"

"Stuff and nonsense!" said the lad; "no harm if we have."

In a little while, back came the man with an ox so fat and big, the
lad had never seen its like, and he gave it one blow with his fist
under the ear, and down it fell dead on the floor. When that was done,
he took it up by all the four legs and laid it on the glowing embers,
and turned it and twisted it about till it was burnt brown outside.
After that, he went to a cupboard and took out a great silver dish,
and laid the ox on it; and the dish was so big that none of the ox
hung over on any side. This he put on the table, and then he went down
into the cellar and fetched a cask of wine, knocked out the head, and
put the cask on the table, together with two knives, which were each
six feet long. When this was done he bade them go and sit down to
supper and eat. So they went, the lad first and the old dame after,
but she began to whimper and wail, and to wonder how she should ever
use such knives. But her son seized one, and began to cut slices out
of the thigh of the ox, which he placed before his mother. And when
they had eaten a bit, he took up the cask with both hands, and lifted
it down to the floor; then he told his mother to come and drink, but
it was still so high she couldn't reach up to it; so he caught her up,
and held her up to the edge of the cask while she drank; as for
himself, he clambered up and hung down like a cat inside the cask
while he drank. So when he had quenched his thirst, he took up the
cask and put it back on the table, and thanked the man for the good
meal, and told his mother to come and thank him too, and, a-feared
though she was, she dared do nothing else but thank the man. Then the
lad sat down again alongside the man and began to gossip, and after
they had sat a while the man said:

"Well! I must just go and get a bit of supper too;" and so he went to
the table and ate up the whole ox--hoofs, and horns, and all--and
drained the cask to the last drop, and then went back and sat on the
bench.

"As for beds," he said, "I don't know what's to be done. I've only got
one bed and a cradle; but we could get on pretty well if you would
sleep in the cradle, and then your mother might lie in the bed
yonder."

"Thank you kindly, that'll do nicely," said the lad; and with that he
pulled off his clothes and lay down in the cradle; but, to tell you
the truth, it was quite as big as a four-poster. As for the old dame,
she had to follow the man who showed her to bed, though she was out of
her wits for fear.

"Well!" thought the lad to himself, "'twill never do to go to sleep
yet. I'd best lie awake and listen how things go as the night wears
on."

So, after a while, the man began to talk to the old dame, and at last
he said:

"We two might live here so happily together, could we only be rid of
this son of yours."

"But do you know how to settle him? Is that what you're thinking of?"
said she.

"Nothing easier," said he; at any rate he would try. He would just say
he wished the old dame would stay and keep house for him a day or two,
and then he would take the lad out with him up the hill to quarry
corner-stones, and roll down a great rock on him. All this the lad lay
and listened to.

Next day the _Troll_--for it was a _Troll_ as clear as day--asked if
the old dame would stay and keep house for him a few days; and as the
day went on he took a great iron crowbar, and asked the lad if he had
a mind to go with him up the hill and quarry a few corner-stones. With
all his heart, he said, and went with him; and so, after they had
split a few stones, the _Troll_ wanted him to go down below and look
after cracks in the rock; and while he was doing this the _Troll_
worked away, and wearied himself with his crowbar till he moved a
whole crag out of its bed, which came rolling right down on the place
where the lad was; but he held it up till he could get on one side,
and then let it roll on.

"Oh!" said the lad to the _Troll_, "now I see what you mean to do with
me. You want to crush me to death; so just go down yourself and look
after the cracks and refts in the rock, and I'll stand up above."

The _Troll_ did not dare to do otherwise than the lad bade him, and
the end of it was that the lad rolled down a great rock, which fell
upon the _Troll_ and broke one of his thighs.

"Well! you _are_ in a sad plight," said the lad, as he strode down,
lifted up the rock, and set the man free. After that he had to put him
on his back and carry him home; so he ran with him as fast as a horse,
and shook him so that the _Troll_ screamed and screeched as if a knife
were run into him. And when he got home, they had to put the _Troll_
to bed, and there he lay in a sad pickle.

When the night wore on, the _Troll_ began to talk to the old dame
again, and to wonder how ever they could be rid of the lad.

"Well," said the old dame, "if you can't hit on a plan to get rid of
him, I'm sure I can't."

"Let me see," said the _Troll_; "I've got twelve lions in a garden; if
they could only get hold of the lad, they'd soon tear him to pieces."

So the old dame said it would be easy enough to get him there. She
would sham sick, and say she felt so poorly, nothing would do her any
good but lion's milk. All that the lad lay and listened to; and when
he got up in the morning his mother said she was worse than she
looked, and she thought she should never be right again unless she
could get some lion's milk.

"Then I'm afraid you'll be poorly a long time, mother," said the lad,
"for I'm sure I don't know where any is to be got."

"Oh! if that be all," said the _Troll_, "there's no lack of lion's
milk, if we only had the man to fetch it;" and then he went on to say
how his brother had a garden with twelve lions in it, and how the lad
might have the key if he had a mind to milk the lions. So the lad took
the key and a milking pail, and strode off; and when he unlocked the
gate and got into the garden, there stood all the twelve lions on
their hind-paws, rampant and roaring at him. But the lad laid hold of
the biggest, and led him about by the fore-paws, and dashed him
against stocks and stones till there wasn't a bit of him left but the
two paws. So when the rest saw that, they were so afraid that they
crept up and lay at his feet like so many curs. After that they
followed him about wherever he went, and when he got home, they lay
down outside the house, with their fore-paws on the door sill.

"Now, mother, you'll soon be well," said the lad, when he went in,
"for here is the lion's milk."

He had just milked a drop in the pail.

But the _Troll_, as he lay in bed, swore it was all a lie. He was sure
the lad was not the man to milk lions.

When the lad heard that, he forced the _Troll_ to get out of bed,
threw open the door, and all the lions rose up and seized the _Troll_,
and at last the lad had to make them leave their hold.

That night the _Troll_ began to talk to the old dame again. "I'm sure
I can't tell how to put this lad out of the way--he is so awfully
strong; can't you think of some way?"

"No," said the old dame, "if you can't tell, I'm sure I can't."

"Well!" said the _Troll_, "I have two brothers in a castle; they are
twelve times as strong as I am, and that's why I was turned out and
had to put up with this farm. They hold that castle, and round it
there is an orchard with apples in it, and whoever eats those apples
sleeps for three days and three nights. If we could only get the lad
to go for the fruit, he wouldn't be able to keep from tasting the
apples, and as soon as ever he fell asleep my brothers would tear him
in pieces."

The old dame said she would sham sick, and say she could never be
herself again unless she tasted those apples; for she had set her
heart on them.

All this the lad lay and listened to.

When the morning came the old dame was so poorly that she couldn't
utter a word but groans and sighs. She was sure she should never be
well again, unless she had some of those apples that grew in the
orchard near the castle where the man's brothers lived; only she had
no one to send for them.

Oh! the lad was ready to go that instant; but the eleven lions went
with him. So when he came to the orchard, he climbed up into the apple
tree and ate as many apples as he could, and he had scarce got down
before he fell into a deep sleep; but the lions all lay round him in a
ring. The third day came the _Troll's_ brothers, but they did not
come in man's shape. They came snorting like man-eating steeds, and
wondered who it was that dared to be there, and said they would tear
him to pieces, so small that there should not be a bit of him left.
But up rose the lions and tore the _Trolls_ into small pieces, so that
the place looked as if a dung heap had been tossed about it; and when
they had finished the _Trolls_ they lay down again. The lad did not
wake till late in the afternoon, and when he got on his knees and
rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, he began to wonder what had been
going on, when he saw the marks of hoofs. But when he went towards the
castle, a maiden looked out of a window who had seen all that had
happened, and she said:

"You may thank your stars you weren't in that tussle, else you must
have lost your life."

"What! I lose my life! No fear of that, I think," said the lad.

So she begged him to come in, that she might talk with him, for she
hadn't seen a Christian soul ever since she came there. But when she
opened the door the lions wanted to go in too, but she got so
frightened that she began to scream, and so the lad let them lie
outside. Then the two talked and talked, and the lad asked how it
came that she, who was so lovely, could put up with those ugly
_Trolls_. She never wished it, she said; 'twas quite against her will.
They had seized her by force, and she was the King of Arabia's
daughter. So they talked on, and at last she asked him what he would
do; whether she should go back home, or whether he would have her to
wife. Of course he would have her, and she shouldn't go home.

After that they went round the castle, and at last they came to a
great hall, where the _Trolls'_ two great swords hung high up on the
wall.

"I wonder if you are man enough to wield one of these," said the
_Princess_.

"Who? I?" said the lad. "'Twould be a pretty thing if I couldn't wield
one of these."

With that he put two or three chairs one a-top of the other, jumped
up, and touched the biggest sword with his finger tips, tossed it up
in the air, and caught it again by the hilt; leapt down, and at the
same time dealt such a blow with it on the floor that the whole hall
shook. After he had thus got down, he thrust the sword under his arm
and carried it about with him.

So, when they had lived a little while in the castle, the _Princess_
thought she ought to go home to her parents, and let them know what
had become of her; so they loaded a ship, and she set sail from the
castle.

After she had gone, and the lad had wandered about a little, he called
to mind that he had been sent out on an errand thither, and had come
to fetch something for his mother's health; and though he said to
himself, "After all the old dame was not so bad but she's all right by
this time"--still he thought he ought to go and just see how she was.
So he went and found both the man and his mother quite fresh and
hearty.

"What wretches you are to live in this beggarly hut," said the lad.
"Come with me up to my castle, and you shall see what a fine fellow I
am."

Well! they were both ready to go, and on the way his mother talked to
him, and asked how it was he had got so strong.

"If you must know it came of that blue belt which lay on the hill-side
that time when you and I were out begging," said the lad.

"Have you got it still?" asked she.

"Yes"--he had. It was tied round his waist.

"Might she see it?"

"Yes"--she might; and with that he pulled open his waistcoat and shirt
to show it to her.

Then she seized it with both hands, tore it off, and twisted it round
her fist.

"Now," she cried, "what shall I do with such a wretch as you? I'll
just give you one blow, and dash your brains out!"

"Far too good a death for such a scamp," said the _Troll_. "No! let's
first burn out his eyes, and then turn him adrift in a little boat."

So they burned out his eyes and turned him adrift, in spite of his
prayers and tears; but, as the boat drifted, the lions swam after, and
at last they laid hold of it and dragged it ashore on an island, and
placed the lad under a fir tree. They caught game for him, and they
plucked the birds and made him a bed of down; but he was forced to eat
his meat raw and he was blind. At last, one day the biggest lion was
chasing a hare which was blind, for it ran straight over stock and
stone, and the end was, it ran right up against a fir-stump and
tumbled head over heels across the field right into a spring; but lo!
when it came out of the spring it saw its way quite plain, and so
saved its life.

"So, so!" thought the lion, and went and dragged the lad to the
spring, and dipped him over head and ears in it. So, when he had got
his sight again, he went down to the shore and made signs to the lions
that they should all lie close together like a raft; then he stood
upon their backs while they swam with him to the mainland. When he had
reached the shore he went up into a birchen copse, and made the lions
lie quiet. Then he stole up to the castle, like a thief, to see if he
couldn't lay hands on his belt; and when he got to the door, he peeped
through the keyhole, and there he saw his belt hanging up over a door
in the kitchen. So he crept softly in across the floor, for there was
no one there; but as soon as he had got hold of the belt, he began to
kick and stamp about as though he were mad. Just then his mother came
rushing out:

"Dear heart, my darling little boy! do give me the belt again," she
said.

"Thank you kindly," said he. "Now you shall have the doom you passed
on me," and he fulfilled it on the spot. When the old _Troll_ heard
that, he came in and begged and prayed so prettily that he might not
be smitten to death.

"Well, you may live," said the lad, "but you shall undergo the same
punishment you gave me;" and so he burned out the _Troll's_ eyes, and
turned him adrift on the sea in a little boat, but he had no lions to
follow him.

Now the lad was all alone, and he went about longing and longing for
the _Princess_; at last he could bear it no longer; he must set out to
seek her, his heart was so bent on having her. So he loaded four ships
and set sail for Arabia.

For some time they had fair wind and fine weather, but after that they
lay wind-bound under a rocky island. So the sailors went ashore and
strolled about to spend the time, and there they found a huge egg,
almost as big as a little house. So they began to knock it about with
large stones, but, after all, they couldn't crack the shell. Then the
lad came up with his sword to see what all the noise was about, and
when he saw the egg, he thought it a trifle to crack it; so he gave it
one blow and the egg split, and out came a chicken as big as an
elephant.

"Now we have done wrong," said the lad; "this can cost us all our
lives;" and then he asked his sailors if they were men enough to sail
to Arabia in four-and-twenty hours if they got a fine breeze. Yes!
they were good to do that, they said, so they set sail with a fine
breeze, and got to Arabia in three-and-twenty hours. As soon as they
landed, the lad ordered all the sailors to go and bury themselves up
to the eyes in a sandhill, so that they could barely see the ships.
The lad and the captains climbed a high crag and sate down under a
fir.

In a little while came a great bird flying with an island in its
claws, and let it fall down on the fleet, and sunk every ship. After
it had done that, it flew up to the sandhill and flapped its wings, so
that the wind nearly took off the heads of the sailors, and it flew
past the fir with such force that it turned the lad right about, but
he was ready with his sword, and gave the bird one blow and brought it
down dead.

After that he went to the town, where every one was glad because the
_King_ had got his daughter back; but now the _King_ had hidden her
away somewhere himself, and promised her hand as a reward to any one
who could find her, and this though she was betrothed before. Now as
the lad went along he met a man who had white bear-skins for sale, so
he bought one of the hides and put it on; and one of the captains was
to take an iron chain and lead him about, and so he went into the town
and began to play pranks. At last the news came to the _King's_ ears,
that there never had been such fun in the town before, for here was a
white bear that danced and cut capers just as it was bid. So a
messenger came to say the bear must come to the castle at once, for
the _King_ wanted to see its tricks. So when it got to the castle
every one was afraid, for such a beast they had never seen before; but
the captain said there was no danger unless they laughed at it. They
mustn't do that, else it would tear them to pieces. When the _King_
heard that, he warned all the court not to laugh. But while the fun
was going on, in came one of the _King's_ maids, and began to laugh
and make game of the bear, and the bear flew at her and tore her, so
that there was scarce a rag of her left. Then all the court began to
bewail, and the captain most of all.

"Stuff and nonsense," said the _King_; "she's only a maid, besides
it's more my affair than yours."

When the show was over, it was late at night. "It's no good your going
away, when it's so late," said the _King_. "The bear had best sleep
here."

"Perhaps it might sleep in the ingle by the kitchen fire," said the
captain.

"Nay," said the _King_, "it shall sleep up here, and it shall have
pillows and cushions to sleep on." So a whole heap of pillows and
cushions was brought, and the captain had a bed in a side room.

But at midnight the _King_ came with a lamp in his hand and a big
bunch of keys, and carried off the white bear. He passed along gallery
after gallery through doors and rooms, up-stairs and down-stairs, till
at last he came to a pier which ran out into the sea. Then the _King_
began to pull and haul at posts and pins, this one up and that one
down, till at last a little house floated up to the water's edge.
There he kept his daughter, for she was so dear to him that he had hid
her, so that no one could find her out. He left the white bear outside
while he went in and told her how it had danced and played its pranks.
She said she was afraid, and dared not look at it; but he talked her
over, saying there was no danger if she only wouldn't laugh. So they
brought the bear in, and locked the door, and it danced and played
its tricks; but just when the fun was at its height, the _Princess's_
maid began to laugh. Then the lad flew at her and tore her to bits,
and the _Princess_ began to cry and sob.

"Stuff and nonsense," cried the _King_; "all this fuss about a maid!
I'll get you just as good a one again. But now I think the bear had
best stay here till morning, for I don't care to have to go and lead
it along all those galleries and stairs at this time of night."

"Well!" said the _Princess_, "if it sleeps here, I'm sure I won't."

[Illustration: The Lad in the Bear's skin, and the King of Arabia's
daughter.]

But just then the bear curled himself up and lay down by the stove;
and it was settled at last that the _Princess_ should sleep there too,
with a light burning. But as soon as the _King_ had well gone, the
white bear came and begged her to undo his collar. The _Princess_ was
so scared she almost swooned away; but she felt about till she found
the collar, and she had scarce undone it before the bear pulled his
head off. Then she knew him again, and was so glad there was no end to
her joy, and she wanted to tell her father at once that her deliverer
was come. But the lad would not hear of it; he would earn her once
more, he said. So in the morning when they heard the _King_ rattling
at the posts outside, the lad drew on the hide and lay down by the
stove.

"Well, has it lain still?" the king asked.

"I should think so," said the _Princess_; "it hasn't so much as turned
or stretched itself once."

When they got up to the castle again, the captain took the bear and
led it away, and then the lad threw off the hide, and went to a tailor
and ordered clothes fit for a prince; and when they were fitted on he
went to the _King_, and said he wanted to find the _Princess_.

"You're not the first who has wished the same thing," said the _King_,
"but they have all lost their lives; for if any one who tries can't
find her in four-and-twenty hours his life is forfeited."

Yes; the lad knew all that. Still he wished to try, and if he
couldn't find her, 'twas his look-out. Now in the castle there was a
band that played sweet tunes, and there were fair maids to dance with,
and so the lad danced away.

When twelve hours were gone, the _King_ said:

"I pity you with all my heart. You're so poor a hand at seeking; you
will surely lose your life."

"Stuff!" said the lad; "while there's life there's hope! So long as
there's breath in the body there's no fear; we have lots of time!" and
so he went on dancing till there was only one hour left.

Then he said he would begin to search.

"It's no use now," said the _King_; "time's up."

"Light your lamp; out with your big bunch of keys," said the lad, "and
follow me whither I wish to go. There is still a whole hour left."

So the lad went the same way which the _King_ had led him the night
before, and he bade the _King_ unlock door after door till they came
down to the pier which ran out into the sea.

"It's all no use, I tell you," said the _King_; "time's up, and this
will only lead you right out into the sea."

"Still five minutes more," said the lad, as he pulled and pushed at
the posts and pins, and the house floated up.

"Now the time is up," bawled the _King_; "come hither, headsman, and
take off his head."

"Nay, nay!" said the lad; "stop a bit, there are still three minutes!
Out with the key, and let me get into this house."

But there stood the _King_ and fumbled with his keys, to draw out the
time. At last he said he hadn't any key.

"Well, if you haven't, I _have_," said the lad, as he gave the door
such a kick that it flew to splinters inwards on the floor.

At the door the _Princess_ met him, and told her father this was her
deliverer, on whom her heart was set. So she had him; and this was how
the beggar boy came to marry the daughter of the King of Arabia.




PRINCE LINDWORM


Once upon a time, there was a fine young _King_ who was married to the
loveliest of Queens. They were exceedingly happy, all but for one
thing--they had no children. And this often made them both sad,
because the _Queen_ wanted a dear little child to play with, and the
_King_ wanted an heir to the kingdom.

One day the _Queen_ went out for a walk by herself, and she met an
ugly old woman. The old woman was just like a witch: but she was a
nice kind of witch, not the cantankerous sort. She said, "Why do you
look so doleful, pretty lady?" "It's no use my telling you," answered
the _Queen_, "nobody in the world can help me." "Oh, you never know,"
said the old woman. "Just you let me hear what your trouble is, and
maybe I can put things right."

"My dear woman, how can you?" said the _Queen_: and she told her, "The
_King_ and I have no children: that's why I am so distressed." "Well,
you needn't be," said the old witch. "I can set that right in a
twinkling, if only you will do exactly as I tell you. Listen.
To-night, at sunset, take a little drinking-cup with two ears" (that
is, handles), "and put it bottom upwards on the ground in the
north-west corner of your garden. Then go and lift it up to-morrow
morning at sunrise, and you will find two roses underneath it, one red
and one white. If you eat the red rose, a little boy will be born to
you: if you eat the white rose, a little girl will be sent. But,
whatever you do, you mustn't eat _both_ the roses, or you'll be
sorry,--that I warn you! Only one: remember that!" "Thank you a
thousand times," said the _Queen_, "this is good news indeed!" And she
wanted to give the old woman her gold ring; but the old woman wouldn't
take it.

So the _Queen_ went home and did as she had been told: and next
morning at sunrise she stole out into the garden and lifted up the
little drinking-cup. She _was_ surprised, for indeed she had hardly
expected to see anything. But there were the two roses underneath it,
one red and one white. And now she was dreadfully puzzled, for she did
not know which to choose. "If I choose the red one," she thought, "and
I have a little boy, he may grow up and go to the wars and get killed.
But if I choose the white one, and have a little girl, she will stay
at home awhile with us, but later on she will get married and go away
and leave us. So, whichever it is, we may be left with no child after
all."

However, at last she decided on the white rose, and she ate it. And it
tasted so sweet, that she took and ate the red one too: without ever
remembering the old woman's solemn warning.

Some time after this, the _King_ went away to the wars: and while he
was still away, the _Queen_ became the mother of twins. One was a
lovely baby-boy, and the other was a _Lindworm_, or Serpent. She was
terribly frightened when she saw the _Lindworm_, but he wriggled away
out of the room, and nobody seemed to have seen him but herself: so
that she thought it must have been a dream. The baby _Prince_ was so
beautiful and so healthy, the _Queen_ was full of joy: and likewise,
as you may suppose, was the _King_ when he came home and found his son
and heir. Not a word was said by anyone about the _Lindworm_: only the
_Queen_ thought about it now and then.

Many days and years passed by, and the baby grew up into a handsome
young _Prince_, and it was time that he got married. The _King_ sent
him off to visit foreign kingdoms, in the Royal coach, with six white
horses, to look for a Princess grand enough to be his wife. But at the
very first cross-roads, the way was stopped by an enormous _Lindworm_,
enough to frighten the bravest. He lay in the middle of the road with
a great wide open mouth, and cried, "A bride for me before a bride for
you!" Then the _Prince_ made the coach turn round and try another
road: but it was all no use. For, at the first cross-ways, there lay
the _Lindworm_ again, crying out, "A bride for me before a bride for
you!" So the _Prince_ had to turn back home again to the Castle, and
give up his visits to the foreign kingdoms. And his mother, the
_Queen_, had to confess that what the _Lindworm_ said was true. For he
was really the eldest of her twins: and so he ought to have a wedding
first.

There seemed nothing for it but to find a bride for the _Lindworm_,
if his younger brother, the _Prince_, were to be married at all. So
the _King_ wrote to a distant country, and asked for a Princess to
marry his son (but, of course, he didn't say which son), and presently
a Princess arrived. But she wasn't allowed to see her bridegroom until
he stood by her side in the great hall and was married to her, and
then, of course, it was too late for her to say she wouldn't have him.
But next morning the Princess had disappeared. The _Lindworm_ lay
sleeping all alone: and it was quite plain that he had eaten her.

A little while after, the Prince decided that he might now go
journeying again in search of a _Princess_. And off he drove in the
Royal chariot with the six white horses. But at the first cross-ways,
there lay the _Lindworm_, crying with his great wide open mouth, "A
bride for me before a bride for you!" So the carriage tried another
road, and the same thing happened, and they had to turn back again
this time, just as formerly. And the King wrote to several foreign
countries, to know if anyone would marry his son. At last another
_Princess_ arrived, this time from a very far distant land. And, of
course, she was not allowed to see her future husband before the
wedding took place,--and then, lo and behold! it was the _Lindworm_
who stood at her side. And next morning the Princess had disappeared:
and the _Lindworm_ lay sleeping all alone; and it was quite clear that
he had eaten her.

By and by the _Prince_ started on his quest for the third time: and at
the first cross-roads there lay the _Lindworm_ with his great wide
open mouth, demanding a bride as before. And the _Prince_ went
straight back to the castle, and told the _King_: "You must find
another bride for my elder brother."

"I don't know where I am to find her," said the _King_, "I have
already made enemies of two great Kings who sent their daughters here
as brides: and I have no notion how I can obtain a third lady. People
are beginning to say strange things, and I am sure no _Princess_ will
dare to come."

Now, down in a little cottage near a wood, there lived the _King's_
shepherd, an old man with his only daughter. And the _King_ came one
day and said to him, "Will you give me your daughter to marry my son
the _Lindworm_? And I will make you rich for the rest of your
life."--"No, sire," said the shepherd, "that I cannot do. She is my
only child, and I want her to take care of me when I am old. Besides,
if the _Lindworm_ would not spare two beautiful Princesses, he won't
spare her either. He will just gobble her up: and she is much too good
for such a fate."

But the _King_ wouldn't take "No" for an answer: and at last the old
man had to give in.

Well, when the old shepherd told his daughter that she was to be
_Prince Lindworm's_ bride, she was utterly in despair. She went out
into the woods, crying and wringing her hands and bewailing her hard
fate. And while she wandered to and fro, an old witch-woman suddenly
appeared out of a big hollow oak-tree, and asked her, "Why do you look
so doleful, pretty lass?" The shepherd-girl said, "It's no use my
telling you, for nobody in the world can help me."--"Oh, you never
know," said the old woman. "Just you let me hear what your trouble is,
and maybe I can put things right."--"Ah, how can you?" said the girl,
"For I am to be married to the _King's_ eldest son, who is a
_Lindworm_. He has already married two beautiful Princesses, and
devoured them: and he will eat me too! No wonder I am distressed."

"Well, you needn't be," said the witch-woman. "All that can be set
right in a twinkling: if only you will do exactly as I tell you." So
the girl said she would.

"Listen, then," said the old woman. "After the marriage ceremony is
over, and when it is time for you to retire to rest, you must ask to
be dressed in ten snow-white shifts. And you must then ask for a tub
full of lye," (that is, washing water prepared with wood-ashes) "and a
tub full of fresh milk, and as many whips as a boy can carry in his
arms,--and have all these brought into your bed-chamber. Then, when
the _Lindworm_ tells you to shed a shift, do you bid him slough a
skin. And when all his skins are off, you must dip the whips in the
lye and whip him; next, you must wash him in the fresh milk; and,
lastly, you must take him and hold him in your arms, if it's only for
one moment."

"The last is the worst notion--ugh!" said the shepherd's daughter, and
she shuddered at the thought of holding the cold, slimy, scaly
_Lindworm_.

"Do just as I have said, and all will go well," said the old woman.
Then she disappeared again in the oak-tree.

When the wedding-day arrived, the girl was fetched in the Royal
chariot with the six white horses, and taken to the castle to be
decked as a bride. And she asked for ten snow-white shifts to be
brought her, and the tub of lye, and the tub of milk, and as many
whips as a boy could carry in his arms. The ladies and courtiers in
the castle thought, of course, that this was some bit of peasant
superstition, all rubbish and nonsense. But the _King_ said, "Let her
have whatever she asks for." She was then arrayed in the most
wonderful robes, and looked the loveliest of brides. She was led to
the hall where the wedding ceremony was to take place, and she saw the
_Lindworm_ for the first time as he came in and stood by her side. So
they were married, and a great wedding-feast was held, a banquet fit
for the son of a king.

[Illustration: She saw the Lindworm for the first time as he came in and
stood by her side.]

When the feast was over, the bridegroom and bride were conducted to
their apartment, with music, and torches, and a great procession. As
soon as the door was shut, the _Lindworm_ turned to her and said,
"Fair maiden, shed a shift!" The shepherd's daughter answered him,
"_Prince Lindworm_, slough a skin!"--"No one has ever dared tell me to
do that before!" said he.--"But I command you to do it now!" said she.
Then he began to moan and wriggle: and in a few minutes a long
snake-skin lay upon the floor beside him. The girl drew off her first
shift, and spread it on top of the skin.

The _Lindworm_ said again to her, "Fair maiden, shed a shift."

The shepherd's daughter answered him, "_Prince Lindworm_, slough a
skin."

"No one has ever dared tell me to do that before," said he.--"But I
command you to do it now," said she. Then with groans and moans he
cast off the second skin: and she covered it with her second shift.
The _Lindworm_ said for the third time, "Fair maiden, shed a shift."
The shepherd's daughter answered him again, "_Prince Lindworm_, slough
a skin."--"No one has ever dared tell me to do that before," said he,
and his little eyes rolled furiously. But the girl was not afraid, and
once more she commanded him to do as she bade.

And so this went on until nine _Lindworm_ skins were lying on the
floor, each of them covered with a snow-white shift. And there was
nothing left of the _Lindworm_ but a huge thick mass, most horrible to
see. Then the girl seized the whips, dipped them in the lye, and
whipped him as hard as ever she could. Next, she bathed him all over
in the fresh milk. Lastly, she dragged him on to the bed and put her
arms round him. And she fell fast asleep that very moment.

Next morning very early, the _King_ and the courtiers came and peeped
in through the keyhole. They wanted to know what had become of the
girl, but none of them dared enter the room. However, in the end,
growing bolder, they opened the door a tiny bit. And there they saw
the girl, all fresh and rosy, and beside her lay--no _Lindworm_, but
the handsomest prince that any one could wish to see.

The _King_ ran out and fetched the _Queen_: and after that, there were
such rejoicings in the castle as never were known before or since. The
wedding took place all over again, much finer than the first, with
festivals and banquets and merrymakings for days and weeks. No bride
was ever so beloved by a King and Queen as this peasant maid from the
shepherd's cottage. There was no end to their love and their kindness
towards her: because, by her sense and her calmness and her courage,
she had saved their son, _Prince Lindworm_.




THE LASSIE AND HER GODMOTHER


Once on a time a poor couple lived far, far away in a great wood. The
wife was brought to bed, and had a pretty girl, but they were so poor
they did not know how to get the babe christened, for they had no
money to pay the parson's fees. So one day the father went out to see
if he could find any one who was willing to stand for the child and
pay the fees; but though he walked about the whole day from one house
to another, and though all said they were willing enough to stand, no
one thought himself bound to pay the fees. Now, when he was going
home again, a lovely lady met him, dressed so fine, and she looked so
thoroughly good and kind; she offered to get the babe christened, but
after that, she said, she must keep it for her own. The husband
answered, he must first ask his wife what she wished to do; but when
he got home and told his story, the wife said, right out, "No!"

Next day the man went out again, but no one would stand if they had to
pay the fees; and though he begged and prayed, he could get no help.
And again as he went home, towards evening the same lovely lady met
him, who looked so sweet and good, and she made him the same offer. So
he told his wife again how he had fared, and this time she said, if he
couldn't get any one to stand for his babe next day, they must just
let the lady have her way, since she seemed so kind and good.

The third day, the man went about, but he couldn't get any one to
stand; and so when, towards evening, he met the kind lady again, he
gave his word she should have the babe if she would only get it
christened at the font. So next morning she came to the place where
the man lived, followed by two men to stand godfathers, took the babe
and carried it to church, and there it was christened. After that she
took it to her own house, and there the little girl lived with her
several years, and her _Foster-mother_ was always kind and friendly to
her.

Now, when the _Lassie_ had grown to be big enough to know right and
wrong, her _Foster-mother_ got ready to go on a journey.

"You have my leave," she said, "to go all over the house, except those
rooms which I shew you;" and when she had said that, away she went.

But the _Lassie_ could not forbear just to open one of the doors a
little bit, when--POP! out flew a Star.

When her _Foster-mother_ came back, she was very vexed to find
that the star had flown out, and she got very angry with her
_Foster-daughter_, and threatened to send her away; but the child
cried and begged so hard that she got leave to stay.

Now, after a while, the _Foster-mother_ had to go on another journey;
and, before she went, she forbade the _Lassie_ to go into those two
rooms into which she had never been. She promised to beware; but when
she was left alone, she began to think and to wonder what there could
be in the second room, and at last she could not help setting the door
a little ajar, just to peep in, when--POP! out flew the Moon.

[Illustration: She could not help setting the door a little ajar, just to
peep in, when--Pop! out flew the Moon.]

When her _Foster-mother_ came home and found the moon let out, she was
very downcast, and said to the _Lassie_ she must go away, she could
not stay with her any longer. But the _Lassie_ wept so bitterly, and
prayed so heartily for forgiveness, that this time, too, she got leave
to stay.

Some time after, the _Foster-mother_ had to go away again, and she
charged the Lassie, who by this time was half grown up, most earnestly
that she mustn't try to go into, or to peep into, the third room. But
when her _Foster-mother_ had been gone some time, and the _Lassie_ was
weary of walking about alone, all at once she thought, "Dear me, what
fun it would be just to peep a little into that third room." Then she
thought she mustn't do it for her _Foster-mother's_ sake; but when the
bad thought came the second time she could hold out no longer; come
what might, she must and would look into the room; so she just opened
the door a tiny bit, when--POP! out flew the Sun.

But when her _Foster-mother_ came back and saw that the sun had flown
away, she was cut to the heart, and said, "Now, there was no help for
it, the _Lassie_ must and should go away; she couldn't hear of her
staying any longer." Now the _Lassie_ cried her eyes out, and begged
and prayed so prettily; but it was all no good.

"Nay! but I must punish you!" said her _Foster-mother_; "but you may
have your choice, either to be the loveliest woman in the world, and
not to be able to speak, or to keep your speech, and to be the ugliest
of all women; but away from me you must go."

And the _Lassie_ said, "I would sooner be lovely." So she became all
at once wondrous fair; but from that day forth she was dumb.

So, when she went away from her _Foster-mother_, she walked and
wandered through a great, great wood; but the farther she went, the
farther off the end seemed to be. So, when the evening came on, she
clomb up into a tall tree, which grew over a spring, and there she
made herself up to sleep that night. Close by lay a castle, and from
that castle came early every morning a maid to draw water to make the
Prince's tea, from the spring over which the _Lassie_ was sitting. So
the maid looked down into the spring, saw the lovely face in the
water, and thought it was her own; then she flung away the pitcher,
and ran home; and, when she got there, she tossed up her head and
said, "If I'm so pretty, I'm far too good to go and fetch water."

So another maid had to go for the water, but the same thing happened
to her; she went back and said she was far too pretty and too good to
fetch water from the spring for the Prince. Then the Prince went
himself, for he had a mind to see what all this could mean. So, when
he reached the spring, he too saw the image in the water; but he
looked up at once, and became aware of the lovely _Lassie_ who sate
there up in the tree. Then he coaxed her down and took her home; and
at last made up his mind to have her for his queen, because she was so
lovely; but his mother, who was still alive, was against it.

[Illustration: Then he coaxed her down and took her home.]

"She can't speak," she said, "and maybe she's a wicked witch."

But the Prince could not be content till he got her. So after they had
lived together a while, the _Lassie_ was to have a child, and when the
child came to be born, the Prince set a strong watch about her; but at
the birth one and all fell into a deep sleep, and her _Foster-mother_
came, cut the babe on its little finger, and smeared the queen's mouth
with the blood; and said:

"Now you shall be as grieved as I was when you let out the star;" and
with these words she carried off the babe.

But when those who were on the watch woke, they thought the queen had
eaten her own child, and the old queen was all for burning her alive,
but the Prince was so fond of her that at last he begged her off, but
he had hard work to set her free.

So the next time the young queen was to have a child, twice as strong
a watch was set as the first time, but the same thing happened over
again, only this time her _Foster-mother_ said:

"Now you shall be as grieved as I was when you let the moon out."

And the queen begged and prayed, and wept; for when her _Foster-mother_
was there, she could speak--but it was all no good.

And now the old queen said she must be burnt, but the Prince found
means to beg her off. But when the third child was to be born, a watch
was set three times as strong as the first, but just the same thing
happened. Her _Foster-mother_ came while the watch slept, took the
babe, and cut its little finger, and smeared the queen's mouth with
the blood, telling her now she should be as grieved as she had been
when the _Lassie_ let out the sun.

And now the Prince could not save her any longer. She must and should
be burnt. But just as they were leading her to the stake, all at once
they saw her _Foster-mother_, who came with all three children--two
she led by the hand, and the third she had on her arm; and so she went
up to the young queen and said:

[Illustration: "Here are your children; now you shall have them again. I
am the Virgin Mary."]

"Here are your children; now you shall have them again. I am the
Virgin Mary, and so grieved as you have been, so grieved was I when
you let out sun, and moon, and star. Now you have been punished for
what you did, and henceforth you shall have your speech."

How glad the Queen and Prince now were, all may easily think, but no
one can tell. After that they were always happy; and from that day
even the Prince's mother was very fond of the young queen.




THE HUSBAND WHO WAS TO MIND THE HOUSE


Once on a time there was a man, so surly and cross, he never thought
his _Wife_ did anything right in the house. So, one evening, in
haymaking time, he came home, scolding and swearing, and showing his
teeth and making a dust.

"Dear love, don't be so angry; there's a good man," said his goody;
"to-morrow let's change our work. I'll go out with the mowers and mow,
and you shall mind the house at home."

Yes! the _Husband_ thought that would do very well. He was quite
willing, he said.

So, early next morning, his goody took a scythe over her neck, and
went out into the hayfield with the mowers, and began to mow; but the
man was to mind the house, and do the work at home.

First of all, he wanted to churn the butter; but when he had churned a
while, he got thirsty, and went down to the cellar to tap a barrel of
ale. So, just when he had knocked in the bung, and was putting the tap
into the cask, he heard overhead the pig come into the kitchen. Then
off he ran up the cellar steps, with the tap in his hand, as fast as
he could, to look after the pig, lest it should upset the churn; but
when he got up, and saw the pig had already knocked the churn over,
and stood there, routing and grunting amongst the cream which was
running all over the floor, he got so wild with rage that he quite
forgot the ale-barrel, and ran at the pig as hard as he could. He
caught it, too, just as it ran out of doors, and gave it such a kick,
that piggy lay for dead on the spot. Then all at once he remembered he
had the tap in his hand; but when he got down to the cellar, every
drop of ale had run out of the cask.

Then he went into the dairy and found enough cream left to fill the
churn again, and so he began to churn, for butter they must have at
dinner. When he had churned a bit, he remembered that their milking
cow was still shut up in the byre, and hadn't had a bit to eat or a
drop to drink all the morning, though the sun was high. Then all at
once he thought 'twas too far to take her down to the meadow, so he'd
just get her up on the house top--for the house, you must know, was
thatched with sods, and a fine crop of grass was growing there. Now
the house lay close up against a steep down, and he thought if he
laid a plank across to the thatch at the back he'd easily get the cow
up.

But still he couldn't leave the churn, for there was his little babe
crawling about on the floor, and "if I leave it," he thought, "the
child is safe to upset it." So he took the churn on his back, and went
out with it; but then he thought he'd better first water the cow
before he turned her out on the thatch; so he took up a bucket to draw
water out of the well; but, as he stooped down at the well's brink,
all the cream ran out of the churn over his shoulders, and so down
into the well.

Now it was near dinner-time, and he hadn't even got the butter yet; so
he thought he'd best boil the porridge, and filled the pot with water
and hung it over the fire. When he had done that, he thought the cow
might perhaps fall off the thatch and break her legs or her neck. So
he got up on the house to tie her up. One end of the rope he made fast
to the cow's neck and the other he slipped down the chimney and tied
round his own thigh; and he had to make haste, for the water now began
to boil in the pot, and he had still to grind the oatmeal.

So he began to grind away; but while he was hard at it, down fell the
cow off the house-top after all, and as she fell, she dragged the man
up the chimney by the rope. There he stuck fast; and as for the cow,
she hung half-way down the wall, swinging between heaven and earth,
for she could neither get down nor up.

And now the goody had waited seven lengths and seven breadths for her
_Husband_ to come and call them home to dinner; but never a call they
had. At last she thought she'd waited long enough, and went home. But
when she got there and saw the cow hanging in such an ugly place, she
ran up and cut the rope in two with her scythe. But, as she did this,
down came her _Husband_ out of the chimney; and so, when his old dame
came inside the kitchen, there she found him standing on his head in
the porridge pot.




THE LAD WHO WENT TO THE NORTH WIND


Once on a time there was an old widow who had one son; and as she was
poorly and weak, her son had to go up into the safe to fetch meal for
cooking; but when he got outside the safe, and was just going down the
steps, there came the _North Wind_ puffing and blowing, caught up the
meal, and so away with it through the air. Then the _Lad_ went back
into the safe for more; but when he came out again on the steps, if
the _North Wind_ didn't come again and carry off the meal with a puff:
and, more than that, he did so the third time. At this the _Lad_ got
very angry; and as he thought it hard that the _North Wind_ should
behave so, he thought he'd just look him up, and ask him to give up
his meal.

So off he went, but the way was long, and he walked and walked; but at
last he came to the _North Wind's_ house.

"Good day!" said the _Lad_, "and thank you for coming to see us
yesterday."

"GOOD DAY!" answered the _North Wind_, for his voice was loud and
gruff, "AND THANKS FOR COMING TO SEE ME. WHAT DO YOU WANT?"

"Oh!" answered the _Lad_, "I only wished to ask you to be so good as
to let me have back that meal you took from me on the safe steps, for
we haven't much to live on; and if you're to go on snapping up the
morsel we have, there'll be nothing for it but to starve."

"I haven't got your meal," said the _North Wind_; "but if you are in
such need, I'll give you a cloth which will get you everything you
want, if you only say, 'Cloth, spread yourself, and serve up all kinds
of good dishes!'"

With this the _Lad_ was well content. But, as the way was so long he
couldn't get home in one day, so he turned into an inn on the way; and
when they were going to sit down to supper he laid the cloth on a
table which stood in the corner, and said:

"Cloth, spread yourself, and serve up all kinds of good dishes."

He had scarce said so before the cloth did as it was bid; and all who
stood by thought it a fine thing, but most of all the landlady. So,
when all were fast asleep at dead of night, she took the _Lad's_
cloth, and put another in its stead, just like the one he had got from
the _North Wind_, but which couldn't so much as serve up a bit of dry
bread.

So, when the _Lad_ woke, he took his cloth and went off with it, and
that day he got home to his mother.

"Now," said he, "I've been to the _North Wind's_ house, and a good
fellow he is, for he gave me this cloth, and when I only say to it,
'Cloth, spread yourself, and serve up all kinds of good dishes,' I get
any sort of food I please."

"All very true, I daresay," said his mother; "but seeing is believing,
and I shan't believe it till I see it."

So the _Lad_ made haste, drew out a table, laid the cloth on it, and
said:

"Cloth, spread yourself, and serve up all kinds of good dishes."

But never a bit of dry bread did the cloth serve up.

"Well," said the _Lad_ "there's no help for it but to go to the _North
Wind_ again;" and away he went.

So he came to where the _North Wind_ lived late in the afternoon.

"Good evening!" said the _Lad_.

"Good evening!" said the _North Wind_.

"I want my rights for that meal of ours which you took," said the
_Lad_; "for, as for that cloth I got, it isn't worth a penny."

"I've got no meal," said the _North Wind_; "but yonder you have a ram
which coins nothing but golden ducats as soon as you say to it: 'Ram,
ram! make money!'"

So the _Lad_ thought this a fine thing; but as it was too far to get
home that day, he turned in for the night to the same inn where he had
slept before.

Before he called for anything, he tried the truth of what the _North
Wind_ had said of the ram, and found it all right; but, when the
landlord saw that, he thought it was a famous ram, and, when the _Lad_
had fallen asleep, he took another which couldn't coin gold ducats,
and changed the two.

Next morning off went the _Lad_; and when he got home to his mother,
he said:

"After all, the _North Wind_ is a jolly fellow; for now he has given
me a ram which can coin golden ducats if I only say: 'Ram, ram! make
money!'"

"All very true, I daresay," said his mother; "but I shan't believe any
such stuff until I see the ducats made."

"Ram, ram! make money!" said the _Lad_; but if the ram made anything,
it wasn't money.

So the _Lad_ went back again to the _North Wind_, and blew him up, and
said the ram was worth nothing, and he must have his rights for the
meal.

"Well!" said the _North Wind_; "I've nothing else to give you but that
old stick in the corner yonder; but its a stick of that kind that if
you say: 'Stick, stick! lay on!' it lays on till you say: 'Stick,
stick! now stop!'"

So, as the way was long, the _Lad_ turned in this night too to the
landlord; but as he could pretty well guess how things stood as to the
cloth and the ram, he lay down at once on the bench and began to
snore, as if he were asleep.

Now the landlord, who easily saw that the stick must be worth
something, hunted up one which was like it, and when he heard the lad
snore, was going to change the two; but, just as the landlord was
about to take it, the _Lad_ bawled out:

"Stick, stick! lay on!"

So the stick began to beat the landlord, till he jumped over chairs,
and tables, and benches, and yelled and roared:

"Oh my! oh my! bid the stick be still, else it will beat me to death,
and you shall have back both your cloth and your ram."

When the _Lad_ thought the landlord had got enough, he said:

"Stick, stick! now stop!"

Then he took the cloth and put it into his pocket, and went home with
his stick in his hand, leading the ram by a cord round its horns; and
so he got his rights for the meal he had lost.




THE THREE PRINCESSES OF WHITELAND


Once on a time there was a fisherman who lived close by a palace, and
fished for the _King's_ table. One day when he was out fishing he just
caught nothing. Do what he would--however he tried with bait and
angle--there was never a sprat on his hook. But when the day was far
spent a head bobbed up out of the water, and said:

"If I may have what your wife bears under her girdle, you shall catch
fish enough."

So the man answered boldly, "Yes;" for he did not know that his wife
was going to have a child. After that, as was like enough, he caught
plenty of fish of all kinds. But when he got home at night and told
his story, how he had got all that fish, his wife fell a-weeping and
moaning, and was beside herself for the promise which her husband had
made, for she said, "I bear a babe under my girdle."

Well, the story soon spread, and came up to the castle; and when the
_King_ heard the woman's grief and its cause, he sent down to say he
would take care of the child, and see if he couldn't save it.

So the months went on and on, and when her time came the fisher's wife
had a boy; so the king took it at once, and brought it up as his own
son, until the lad grew up. Then he begged leave one day to go out
fishing with his father; he had such a mind to go, he said. At first
the _King_ wouldn't hear of it, but at last the lad had his way, and
went. So he and his father were out the whole day, and all went right
and well till they landed at night. Then the lad remembered he had
left his handkerchief, and went to look for it; but as soon as ever he
got into the boat, it began to move off with him at such speed that
the water roared under the bow, and all the lad could do in rowing
against it with the oars was no use; so he went and went the whole
night, and at last he came to a white strand, far far away.

There he went ashore, and when he had walked about a bit, an old, old
man met him, with a long white beard.

"What's the name of this land?" asked the lad.

"Whiteland," said the man, who went on to ask the lad whence he came,
and what he was going to do. So the lad told him all.

[Illustration: "You'll come to three Princesses, whom you will see
standing in the earth up to their necks, with only their heads out."]

"Aye, aye!" said the man; "now when you have walked a little farther
along the strand here, you'll come to three _Princesses_, whom you
will see standing in the earth up to their necks, with only their
heads out. Then the first--she is the eldest--will call out and beg
you so prettily to come and help her; and the second will do the same;
to neither of these shall you go; make haste past them, as if you
neither saw nor heard anything. But the third you shall go to, and do
what she asks. If you do this, you'll have good luck--that's all."

When the lad came to the first _Princess_, she called out to him, and
begged him so prettily to come to her, but he passed on as though he
saw her not. In the same way he passed by the second; but to the third
he went straight up.

"If you'll do what I bid you," she said, "you may have which of us you
please."

"Yes;" he was willing enough; so she told him how three _Trolls_ had
set them down in the earth there; but before they had lived in the
castle up among the trees.

"Now," she said, "you must go into that castle, and let the _Trolls_
whip you each one night for each of us. If you can bear that, you'll
set us free."

Well, the lad said he was ready to try.

"When you go in," the _Princess_ went on to say, "you'll see two lions
standing at the gate; but if you'll only go right in the middle
between them they'll do you no harm. Then go straight on into a little
dark room, and make your bed. Then the _Troll_ will come to whip you;
but if you take the flask which hangs on the wall, and rub yourself
with the ointment that's in it, wherever his lash falls, you'll be as
sound as ever. Then grasp the sword that hangs by the side of the
flask and strike the _Troll_ dead."

Yes, he did as the _Princess_ told him; he passed in the midst between
the lions, as if he hadn't seen them, and went straight into the
little room, and there he lay down to sleep. The first night there
came a _Troll_ with three heads and three rods, and whipped the lad
soundly; but he stood it till the _Troll_ was done; then he took the
flask and rubbed himself, and grasped the sword and slew the _Troll_.

So, when he went out next morning, the _Princesses_ stood out of the
earth up to their waists.

The next night 'twas the same story over again, only this time the
_Troll_ had six heads and six rods, and he whipped him far worse than
the first; but when he went out next morning, the _Princesses_ stood
out of the earth as far as the knee.

The third night there came a _Troll_ that had nine heads and nine
rods, and he whipped and flogged the lad so long that he fainted away;
then the _Troll_ took him up and dashed him against the wall; but the
shock brought down the flask, which fell on the lad, burst, and
spilled the ointment all over him, and so he became as strong and
sound as ever again. Then he wasn't slow; he grasped the sword and
slew the _Troll_; and next morning when he went out of the castle the
_Princesses_ stood before him with all their bodies out of the earth.
So he took the youngest for his _Queen_, and lived well and happily
with her for some time.

At last he began to long to go home for a little to see his parents.
His _Queen_ did not like this; but at last his heart was so set on it,
and he longed and longed so much, there was no holding him back, so
she said:

"One thing you must promise me. This--only to do what your father begs
you to do, and not what mother wishes;" and that he promised.

Then she gave him a ring, which was of that kind that any one who wore
it might wish two wishes. So he wished himself home, and when he got
home his parents could not wonder enough what a grand man their son
had become.

Now, when he had been at home some days, his mother wished him to go
up to the palace and show the _King_ what a fine fellow he had come
to be. But his father said:

"No! don't let him do that; if he does, we shan't have any more joy of
him this time."

But it was no good, the mother begged and prayed so long that at last
he went. So when he got up to the palace he was far braver, both in
clothes and array, than the other king, who didn't quite like this,
and at last he said:

"All very fine; but here you can see my _Queen_, what like she is, but
I can't see yours: that I can't. Do you know, I scarce think she's so
good-looking as mine."

"Would to Heaven," said the young _King_, "she were standing here,
then you'd see what she was like." And that instant there she stood
before them.

But she was very woeful, and said to him:

"Why did you not mind what I told you; and why did you not listen to
what your father said? Now, I must away home, and as for you, you have
had both your wishes."

With that she knitted a ring among his hair with her name on it, and
wished herself home, and was off.

Then the young _King_ was cut to the heart, and went, day out day in,
thinking and thinking how he should get back to his _Queen_. "I'll
just try," he thought, "if I can't learn where Whiteland lies;" and so
he went out into the world to ask. So when he had gone a good way, he
came to a high hill, and there he met one who was lord over all the
beasts of the wood, for they all came home to him when he blew his
horn; so the _King_ asked if he knew where Whiteland was.

"No, I don't," said he, "but I'll ask my beasts." Then he blew his
horn and called them, and asked if any of them knew where Whiteland
lay. But there was no beast that knew.

So the man gave him a pair of snow-shoes.

[Illustration: So the man gave him a pair of snow-shoes.]

"When you get on these," he said, "you'll come to my brother, who
lives hundreds of miles off; he is lord over all the birds of the air.
Ask him. When you reach his house, just turn the shoes so that the
toes point this way, and they'll come home of themselves." So when the
_King_ reached the house, he turned the shoes as the lord of the
beasts had said, and away they went home of themselves.

So he asked again after Whiteland, and the man called all the birds
with a blast of his horn, and asked if any of them knew where
Whiteland lay; but none of the birds knew. Now, long, long after the
rest of the birds came an old eagle, which had been away ten round
years, but he couldn't tell any more than the rest.

"Well, well," said the man, "I'll lend you a pair of snow-shoes, and,
when you get them on, they'll carry you to my brother, who lives
hundreds of miles off; he's lord of all the fish in the sea; you'd
better ask him. But don't forget to turn the toes of the shoes this
way."

The _King_ was full of thanks, got on the shoes, and when he came to
the man who was lord over the fish of the sea, he turned the toes
round, and so off they went home like the other pair. After that, he
asked again after Whiteland.

So the man called the fish with a blast, but no fish could tell where
it lay. At last came an old pike, which they had great work to call
home, he was such a way off. So when they asked him he said:

"Know it? I should think I did! I've been cook there ten years, and
to-morrow I'm going there again; for now the queen of Whiteland, whose
king is away, is going to wed another husband."

"Well!" said the man, "as this is so, I'll give you a bit of advice.
Hereabouts, on a moor, stand three brothers, and here they have stood
these hundred years, fighting about a hat, a cloak, and a pair of
boots. If any one has these three things he can make himself
invisible, and wish himself anywhere he pleases. You can tell them you
wish to try the things, and, after that, you'll pass judgment between
them, whose they shall be."

Yes! the _King_ thanked the man, and went and did as he told him.

"What's all this?" he said to the brothers. "Why do you stand here
fighting for ever and a day? Just let me try these things, and I'll
give judgment whose they shall be."

They were very willing to do this; but, as soon as he had got the hat,
cloak, and boots, he said:

"When we meet next time, I'll tell you my judgment," and with these
words he wished himself away.

So as he went along up in the air, he came up with the North wind.

"Whither away?" roared the North Wind.

"To Whiteland," said the _King_; and then he told him all that had
befallen him.

"Ah," said the North Wind, "you go faster than I--you do; for you can
go straight, while I have to puff and blow round every turn and
corner. But when you get there, just place yourself on the stairs by
the side of the door, and then I'll come storming in, as though I were
going to blow down the whole castle. And then when the prince, who is
to have your _Queen_, comes out to see what's the matter, just you
take him by the collar and pitch him out of doors; then I'll look
after him, and see if I can't carry him off."

[Illustration: The King went into the Castle, and at first his Queen
didn't know him, he was so wan and thin, through wandering so far and
being so woeful.]

Well, the _King_ did as the North Wind said. He took his stand on the
stairs, and when the North Wind came, storming and roaring, and took
hold of the castle wall, so that it shook again, the prince came out
to see what was the matter. But as soon as ever he came, the _King_
caught him by the collar and pitched him out of doors, and then the
North Wind caught him up and carried him off. So when there was an end
of him, the _King_ went into the castle, and at first his _Queen_
didn't know him, he was so wan and thin, through wandering so far and
being so woeful; but when he shewed her the ring, she was as glad as
glad could be; and so the rightful wedding was held, and the fame of
it spread far and wide.




SORIA MORIA CASTLE


Once on a time there was a poor couple who had a son whose name was
_Halvor_. Ever since he was a little boy he would turn his hand to
nothing, but just sat there and groped about in the ashes. His father
and mother often put him out to learn this trade or that, but _Halvor_
could stay nowhere; for, when he had been there a day or two, he ran
away from his master, and never stopped till he was sitting again in
the ingle, poking about in the cinders.

Well, one day a skipper came, and asked _Halvor_ if he hadn't a mind
to be with him, and go to sea, and see strange lands. Yes, _Halvor_
would like that very much; so he wasn't long in getting himself
ready.

How long they sailed I'm sure I can't tell; but the end of it was,
they fell into a great storm, and when it was blown over, and it got
still again, they couldn't tell where they were; for they had been
driven away to a strange coast, which none of them knew anything
about.

Well, as there was just no wind at all, they stayed lying wind-bound
there, and _Halvor_ asked the skipper's leave to go on shore and look
about him; he would sooner go, he said, than lie there and sleep.

"Do you think now you're fit to show yourself before folk," said the
skipper, "why, you've no clothes but those rags you stand in?"

But _Halvor_ stuck to his own, and so at last he got leave, but he was
to be sure and come back as soon as ever it began to blow. So off he
went and found a lovely land; wherever he came there were fine large
flat cornfields and rich meads, but he couldn't catch a glimpse of a
living soul. Well, it began to blow, but _Halvor_ thought he hadn't
seen enough yet, and he wanted to walk a little farther just to see if
he couldn't meet any folk. So after a while he came to a broad high
road, so smooth and even, you might easily roll an egg along it.
_Halvor_ followed this, and when evening drew on he saw a great castle
ever so far off, from which the sunbeams shone. So as he had now
walked the whole day and hadn't taken a bit to eat with him, he was as
hungry as a hunter, but still the nearer he came to the castle, the
more afraid he got.

In the castle kitchen a great fire was blazing, and _Halvor_ went into
it, but such a kitchen he had never seen in all his born days. It was
so grand and fine; there were vessels of silver and vessels of gold,
but still never a living soul. So when _Halvor_ had stood there a
while and no one came out, he went and opened a door, and there inside
sat a _Princess_ who span upon a spinning-wheel.

"Nay, nay, now!" she called out, "dare Christian folk come hither? But
now you'd best be off about your business, if you don't want the
_Troll_ to gobble you up; for here lives a _Troll_ with three heads."

"All one to me," said the lad, "I'd be just as glad to hear he had
four heads beside; I'd like to see what kind of fellow he is. As for
going, I won't go at all. I've done no harm; but meat you must get me,
for I'm almost starved to death."

When _Halvor_ had eaten his fill, the _Princess_ told him to try if he
could brandish the sword that hung against the wall; no, he couldn't
brandish it, he couldn't even lift it up.

"Oh!" said the _Princess_, "now you must go and take a pull of that
flask that hangs by its side; that's what the _Troll_ does every time
he goes out to use the sword."

So _Halvor_ took a pull, and in the twinkling of an eye he could
brandish the sword like nothing; and now he thought it high time the
_Troll_ came; and lo! just then up came the _Troll_ puffing and
blowing. _Halvor_ jumped behind the door.

"HUTETU," said the _Troll_, as he put his head in at the door, "what a
smell of Christian man's blood!"

"Aye," said _Halvor_, "you'll soon know that to your cost," and with
that he hewed off all his heads.

Now the _Princess_ was so glad that she was free, she both danced and
sang, but then all at once she called her sisters to mind, and so she
said:

"Would my sisters were free too!"

"Where are they?" asked _Halvor_.

Well, she told him all about it; one was taken away by a _Troll_ to
his Castle which lay fifty miles off, and the other by another _Troll_
to his Castle which was fifty miles further still.

"But now," she said, "you must first help me to get this ugly carcass
out of the house."

Yes, _Halvor_ was so strong he swept everything away, and made it all
clean and tidy in no time. So they had a good and happy time of it,
and next morning he set off at peep of grey dawn; he could take no
rest by the way, but ran and walked the whole day. When he first saw
the Castle he got a little afraid; it was far grander than the first,
but here too there wasn't a living soul to be seen. So _Halvor_ went
into the kitchen, and didn't stop there either, but went straight
further on into the house.

"Nay, nay," called out the _Princess_, "dare Christian folk come
hither? I don't know I'm sure how long it is since I came here, but in
all that time I haven't seen a Christian man. 'Twere best you saw how
to get away as fast as you came; for here lives a _Troll_ who has six
heads."

"I shan't go," said _Halvor_, "if he has six heads besides."

"He'll take you up and swallow you down alive," said the _Princess_.

But it was no good, _Halvor_ wouldn't go; he wasn't at all afraid of
the _Troll_, but meat and drink he must have, for he was half starved
after his long journey. Well, he got as much of that as he wished, but
then the _Princess_ wanted him to be off again.

"No," said _Halvor_, "I won't go, I've done no harm, and I've nothing
to be afraid about."

"He won't stay to ask that," said the _Princess_, "for he'll take you
without law or leave; but as you won't go, just try if you can
brandish that sword yonder, which the _Troll_ wields in war."

He couldn't brandish it, and then the _Princess_ said he must take a
pull at the flask which hung by its side, and when he had done that he
could brandish it.

Just then back came the _Troll_, and he was both stout and big, so
that he had to go sideways to get through the door. When the _Troll_
got his first head in he called out:

"HUTETU, what a smell of Christian man's blood!"

But that very moment _Halvor_ hewed off his first head, and so on all
the rest as they popped in. The _Princess_ was overjoyed, but just
then she came to think of her sisters, and wished out loud they were
free. _Halvor_ thought that might easily be done, and wanted to be off
at once; but first he had to help the _Princess_ to get the _Troll's_
carcass out of the way, and so he could only set out next morning.

It was a long way to the Castle, and he had to walk fast and run hard
to reach it in time; but about nightfall he saw the Castle, which was
far finer and grander than either of the others. This time he wasn't
the least afraid, but walked straight through the kitchen, and into
the Castle. There sat a _Princess_ who was so pretty, there was no end
to her loveliness. She too like the others told him there hadn't been
Christian folk there ever since she came thither, and bade him go away
again, else the _Troll_ would swallow him alive, and do you know, she
said, he has nine heads.

"Aye, aye," said _Halvor_, "if he had nine other heads, and nine other
heads still, I won't go away," and so he stood fast before the stove.
The _Princess_ kept on begging him so prettily to go away, lest the
_Troll_ should gobble him up, but _Halvor_ said:

"Let him come as soon as he likes."

So she gave him the _Troll's_ sword, and bade him take a pull at the
flask, that he might be able to brandish and wield it.

Just then back came the _Troll_ puffing and blowing and tearing along.
He was far bigger and stouter than the other two, and he too had to go
on one side to get through the door. So when he got his first head in,
he said as the others had said:

"HUTETU, what a smell of Christian man's blood!"

That very moment _Halvor_ hewed off the first head and then all the
rest; but the last was the toughest of them all, and it was the
hardest bit of work _Halvor_ had to do, to get it hewn off, although
he knew very well he had strength enough to do it.

So all the _Princesses_ came together to that Castle, which was called
_Soria Moria Castle_, and they were glad and happy as they had never
been in all their lives before, and they all were fond of _Halvor_
and _Halvor_ of them, and he might choose the one he liked best for
his bride; but the youngest was fondest of him of all the three.

But there after a while, _Halvor_ went about, and was so strange and
dull and silent. Then the Princesses asked him what he lacked, and if
he didn't like to live with them any longer? Yes, he did, for they had
enough and to spare, and he was well off in every way, but still
somehow or other he did so long to go home, for his father and mother
were alive, and them he had such a great wish to see.

Well, they thought that might be done easily enough.

"You shall go thither and come back hither, safe and unscathed, if you
will only follow our advice," said the _Princesses_.

Yes, he'd be sure to mind all they said. So they dressed him up till
he was as grand as a king's son, and then they set a ring on his
finger, and that was such a ring, he could wish himself thither and
hither with it; but they told him to be sure and not take it off, and
not to name their names, for there would be an end of all his bravery,
and then he'd never see them more.

"If I only stood at home I'd be glad," said _Halvor_; and it was done
as he had wished. Then stood _Halvor_ at his father's cottage door
before he knew a word about it. Now it was about dusk at even, and so,
when they saw such a grand stately lord walk in, the old couple got so
afraid they began to bow and scrape. Then _Halvor_ asked if he
couldn't stay there, and have a lodging there that night. No; that he
couldn't.

"We can't do it at all," they said, "for we haven't this thing or that
thing which such a lord is used to have; 'twere best your lordship
went up to the farm, no long way off, for you can see the chimneys,
and there they have lots of everything."

_Halvor_ wouldn't hear of it--he wanted to stop; but the old couple
stuck to their own, that he had better go to the farmer's; there he
would get both meat and drink; as for them, they hadn't even a chair
to offer him to sit down on.

"No," said _Halvor_, "I won't go up there till to-morrow early, but
let me just stay here to-night; worst come to the worst, I can sit in
the chimney corner."

Well, they couldn't say anything against that; so _Halvor_ sat down by
the ingle, and began to poke about in the ashes, just as he used to do
when he lay at home in old days, and stretched his lazy bones.

Well, they chattered and talked about many things; and they told
_Halvor_ about this thing and that; and so he asked them if they had
never had any children.

Yes, yes, they had once a lad whose name was _Halvor_, but they didn't
know whither he had wandered; they couldn't even tell whether he were
dead or alive.

"Couldn't it be me, now?" said _Halvor_.

"Let me see; I could tell him well enough," said the old wife, and
rose up. "Our _Halvor_ was so lazy and dull, he never did a thing; and
besides, he was so ragged, that one tatter took hold of the next
tatter on him. No; there never was the making of such a fine fellow
in him as you are, master."

A little while after the old wife went to the hearth to poke up the
fire, and when the blaze fell on _Halvor's_ face, just as when he was
at home of old poking about in the ashes, she knew him at once.

"Ah! but it is you after all, _Halvor_?" she cried; and then there was
such joy for the old couple, there was no end to it; and he was forced
to tell how he had fared, and the old dame was so fond and proud of
him, nothing would do but he must go up at once to the farmer's, and
show himself to the lassies, who had always looked down on him. And
off she went first, and _Halvor_ followed after. So, when she got up
there, she told them all how _Halvor_ had come home again, and now
they should only just see how grand he was, for, said she, "he looks
like nothing but a King's son."

"All very fine," said the lassies, and tossed up their heads. "We'll
be bound he's just the same beggarly ragged boy he always was."

Just then in walked _Halvor_, and then the lassies were all so taken
aback, they forgot their sarks in the ingle, where they were sitting
darning their clothes, and ran out in their smocks. Well, when they
were got back again, they were so shamefaced they scarce dared look at
_Halvor_, towards whom they had always been proud and haughty.

"Aye, aye," said _Halvor_, "you always thought yourselves so pretty
and neat, no one could come near you; but now you should just see the
eldest _Princess_ I have set free; against her you look just like
milkmaids, and the midmost is prettier still; but the youngest, who is
my sweetheart, she's fairer than both sun and moon. Would to Heaven
they were only here," said _Halvor_, "then you'd see what you would
see."

He had scarce uttered these words before there they stood, but then he
felt so sorry, for now what they had said came into his mind. Up at
the farm there was a great feast got ready for the _Princesses_, and
much was made of them, but they wouldn't stop there.

"No, we want to go down to your father and mother," they said to
_Halvor_; "and so we'll go out now and look about us."

So he went down with them, and they came to a great lake just outside
the farm. Close by the water was such a lovely green bank; here the
_Princesses_ said they would sit and rest a while; they thought it so
sweet to sit down and look over the water.

So they sat down there, and when they had sat a while the youngest
_Princess_ said:

"I may as well comb your hair a little, _Halvor_."

Well, _Halvor_ laid his head on her lap, and she combed his bonny
locks, and it wasn't long before _Halvor_ fell fast asleep. Then she
took the ring from his finger, and put another in its stead; and she
said:

"Now hold me all together! and now would we were all in _Soria Moria
Castle_."

So when _Halvor_ woke up, he could very well tell that he had lost the
_Princesses_, and began to weep and wail; and he was so downcast, they
couldn't comfort him at all. In spite of all his father and mother
said, he wouldn't stop there, but took farewell of them, and said he
was safe not to see them again; for if he couldn't find the
_Princesses_ again, he thought it not worth while to live.

Well, he had still about sixty pounds left, so he put them into his
pocket, and set out on his way. So, when he had walked a while, he met
a man with a tidy horse, and he wanted to buy it, and began to chaffer
with the man.

"Aye," said the man, "to tell the truth, I never thought of selling
him; but if we could strike a bargain perhaps--"

"What do you want for him?" asked _Halvor_.

"I didn't give much for him, nor is he worth much; he's a brave horse
to ride, but he can't draw at all; still he's strong enough to carry
your knapsack and you too, turn and turn about," said the man.

At last they agreed on the price, and _Halvor_ laid the knapsack on
him, and so he walked a bit, and rode a bit, turn and turn about. At
night he came to a green plain where stood a great tree, at the roots
of which he sat down. There he let the horse loose, but he didn't lie
down to sleep, but opened his knapsack and took a meal. At peep of day
off he set again, for he could take no rest. So he rode and walked
and walked and rode the whole day through the wide wood, where there
were so many green spots and glades that shone so bright and lovely
between the trees. He didn't know at all where he was or whither he
was going, but he gave himself no more time to rest than when his
horse cropped a bit of grass, and he took a snack out of his knapsack
when they came to one of those green glades. So he went on walking and
riding by turns, and as for the wood there seemed to be no end to it.

But at dusk the next day he saw a light gleaming away through the
trees.

"Would there were folk hereaway," thought _Halvor_, "that I might warm
myself a bit and get a morsel to keep body and soul together."

When he got up to it he saw the light came from a wretched little hut,
and through the window he saw an old old, couple inside. They were as
grey-headed as a pair of doves, and the old wife had such a nose! why,
it was so long she used it for a poker to stir the fire as she sat in
the ingle.

"Good evening," said _Halvor_.

"Good evening," said the old wife.

"But what errand can you have in coming hither?" she went on, "for no
Christian folk have been here these hundred years and more."

Well, _Halvor_ told her all about himself, and how he wanted to get to
_Soria Moria Castle_, and asked if she knew the way thither.

"No," said the old wife, "that I don't, but see now, here comes the
Moon, I'll ask her, she'll know all about it, for doesn't she shine on
everything?"

So when the Moon stood clear and bright over the tree-tops, the old
wife went out.

"THOU MOON, THOU MOON," she screamed, "canst thou tell me the way to
_Soria Moria Castle_?"

"No," said the Moon, "that I can't, for the last time I shone there a
cloud stood before me."

"Wait a bit still," said the old wife to _Halvor_, "bye and bye comes
the West Wind; he's sure to know it, for he puffs and blows round
every corner."

"Nay, nay," said the old wife when she went out again, "you don't mean
to say you've got a horse too; just turn the poor beastie loose in our
'toun,' and don't let him stand there and starve to death at the
door."

Then she ran on:

"But won't you swop him away to me?--we've got an old pair of boots
here, with which you can take twenty miles at each stride; those you
shall have for your horse, and so you'll get all the sooner to _Soria
Moria Castle_."

That _Halvor_ was willing to do at once; and the old wife was so glad
at having the horse, she was ready to dance and skip for joy.

"For now," she said, "I shall be able to ride to church. I, too, think
of that."

As for _Halvor_, he had no rest, and wanted to be off at once, but the
old wife said there was no hurry.

"Lie down on the bench with you and sleep a bit, for we've no bed to
offer you, and I'll watch and wake you when the West Wind comes."

So after a while up came the West Wind, roaring and howling along till
the walls creaked and groaned again.

Out ran the old wife.

"THOU WEST WIND, THOU WEST WIND! Canst thou tell me the way to _Soria
Moria Castle_? Here's one who wants to get thither."

"Yes, I know it very well," said the West Wind, "and now I'm just off
thither to dry clothes for the wedding that's to be; if he's swift of
foot he can go along with me."

Out ran _Halvor_.

"You'll have to stretch your legs if you mean to keep up," said the
West Wind.

So off he set over field and hedge, and hill and fell, and _Halvor_
had hard work to keep up.

"Well," said the West Wind, "now I've no time to stay with you any
longer, for I've got to go away yonder and tear down a strip of spruce
wood first before I go to the bleaching-ground to dry the clothes; but
if you go alongside the hill you'll come to a lot of lassies standing
washing clothes, and then you've not far to go to _Soria Moria
Castle_."

In a little while _Halvor_ came upon the lassies who stood washing,
and they asked if he had seen anything of the West Wind who was to
come and dry the clothes for the wedding.

"Aye, aye, that I have," said _Halvor_, "he's only gone to tear down a
strip of spruce wood. It'll not be long before he's here," and then he
asked them the way to _Soria Moria Castle_.

So they put him into the right way, and when he got to the Castle it
was full of folk and horses; so full it made one giddy to look at
them. But _Halvor_ was so ragged and torn from having followed the
West Wind through bush and brier and bog, that he kept on one side,
and wouldn't show himself till the last day when the bridal feast was
to be.

So when all, as was then right and fitting, were to drink the bride
and bridegroom's health and wish them luck, and when the cupbearer was
to drink to them all again, both knights and squires, last of all he
came in turn to _Halvor_. He drank their health, but let the ring
which the _Princess_ had put upon his finger as he lay by the lake
fall into the glass, and bade the cupbearer go and greet the bride and
hand her the glass.

Then up rose the _Princess_ from the board at once.

"Who is most worthy to have one of us," she said, "he that has set us
free, or he that here sits by me as bridegroom?"

Well they all said there could be but one voice and will as to that,
and when _Halvor_ heard that he wasn't long in throwing off his
beggar's rags, and arraying himself as bridegroom.

"Aye, aye, here is the right one after all," said the youngest
_Princess_ as soon as she saw him, and so she tossed the other one out
of the window, and held her wedding with _Halvor_.




THE GIANT WHO HAD NO HEART IN HIS BODY


Once on a time there was a _King_ who had _seven sons_, and he loved
them so much that he could never bear to be without them all at once,
but one must always be with him. Now, when they were grown up, six
were to set off to woo, but as for the youngest, his father kept him
at home, and the others were to bring back a princess for him to the
palace. So the _King_ gave the six the finest clothes you ever set
eyes on, so fine that the light gleamed from them a long way off, and
each had his horse, which cost many, many hundred pounds, and so they
set off. Now, when they had been to many palaces, and seen many
princesses, at last they came to a _King_ who had _six daughters_;
such lovely king's daughters they had never seen, and so they fell to
wooing them, each one, and when they had got them for sweethearts,
they set off home again, but they quite forgot that they were to bring
back with them a sweetheart for _Boots_, their brother, who stayed at
home, for they were over head and ears in love with their own
sweethearts.

[Illustration: The six brothers riding out to woo.]

But when they had gone a good bit on their way, they passed close by a
steep hill-side, like a wall, where the _Giant's_ house was, and there
the _Giant_ came out, and set his eyes upon them, and turned them all
into stone, princes and princesses and all. Now the _King_ waited and
waited for his _six sons_, but the more he waited, the longer they
stayed away; so he fell into great trouble, and said he should never
know what it was to be glad again.

"And if I had not you left," he said to _Boots_, "I would live no
longer, so full of sorrow am I for the loss of your brothers."

"Well, but now I've been thinking to ask your leave to set out and
find them again; that's what I'm thinking of," said _Boots_.

"Nay, nay!" said his father; "that leave you shall never get, for then
you would stay away too."

But _Boots_ had set his heart upon it; go he would; and he begged and
prayed so long that the _King_ was forced to let him go. Now, you must
know the _King_ had no other horse to give _Boots_ but an old
broken-down jade, for his six other sons and their train had carried
off all his horses; but _Boots_ did not care a pin for that, he sprang
up on his sorry old steed.

"Farewell, father," said he; "I'll come back, never fear, and like
enough I shall bring my six brothers back with me;" and with that he
rode off.

So, when he had ridden a while, he came to a _Raven_, which lay in the
road and flapped its wings, and was not able to get out of the way, it
was so starved.

"Oh, dear friend," said the _Raven_, "give me a little food, and I'll
help you again at your utmost need."

"I haven't much food," said the _Prince_, "and I don't see how you'll
ever be able to help me much; but still I can spare you a little. I
see you want it."

So he gave the raven some of the food he had brought with him.

Now, when he had gone a bit further, he came to a brook, and in the
brook lay a great _Salmon_, which had got upon a dry place and dashed
itself about, and could not get into the water again.

"Oh, dear friend," said the _Salmon_ to the _Prince_; "shove me out
into the water again, and I'll help you again at your utmost need."

"Well!" said the _Prince_, "the help you'll give me will not be great,
I daresay, but it's a pity you should lie there and choke;" and with
that he shot the fish out into the stream again.

After that he went a long, long way, and there met him a _Wolf_ which
was so famished that it lay and crawled along the road on its belly.

"Dear friend, do let me have your horse," said the _Wolf_; "I'm so
hungry the wind whistles through my ribs; I've had nothing to eat
these two years."

"No," said _Boots_, "this will never do; first I came to a raven, and
I was forced to give him my food; next I came to a salmon, and him I
had to help into the water again; and now you will have my horse. It
can't be done, that it can't, for then I should have nothing to ride
on."

"Nay, dear friend, but you can help me," said _Graylegs_ the wolf;
"you can ride upon my back, and I'll help you again in your utmost
need."

"Well! the help I shall get from you will not be great, I'll be
bound," said the _Prince_; "but you may take my horse, since you are
in such need."

So when the _Wolf_ had eaten the horse, _Boots_ took the bit and put
it into the _Wolf's_ jaw, and laid the saddle on his back; and now the
_Wolf_ was so strong, after what he had got inside, that he set off
with the _Prince_ like nothing. So fast he had never ridden before.

"When we have gone a bit farther," said _Graylegs_, "I'll show you the
_Giant's_ house."

So after a while they came to it.

"See, here is the _Giant's_ house," said the _Wolf_; "and see, here
are your six brothers, whom the _Giant_ has turned into stone; and
see, here are their six brides, and away yonder is the door, and in
that door you must go."

"Nay, but I daren't go in," said the _Prince_; "he'll take my life."

"No! no!" said the _Wolf_; "when you get in you'll find a _Princess_,
and she'll tell you what to do to make an end of the _Giant_. Only
mind and do as she bids you."

Well! _Boots_ went in, but, truth to say, he was very much afraid.
When he came in the _Giant_ was away, but in one of the rooms sat the
_Princess_, just as the _Wolf_ had said, and so lovely a princess
_Boots_ had never yet set eyes on.

"Oh! heaven help you! whence have you come?" said the _Princess_, as
she saw him; "it will surely be your death. No one can make an end of
the _Giant_ who lives here, for he has no heart in his body."

"Well! well!" said _Boots_; "but now that I am here, I may as well try
what I can do with him; and I will see if I can't free my brothers,
who are standing turned to stone out of doors; and you, too, I will
try to save, that I will."

"Well, if you must, you must," said the _Princess_; "and so let us see
if we can't hit on a plan. Just creep under the bed yonder, and mind
and listen to what he and I talk about. But, pray, do lie as still as
a mouse."

So he crept under the bed, and he had scarce got well underneath it,
before the _Giant_ came.

"Ha!" roared the _Giant_, "what a smell of Christian blood there is in
the house!"

"Yes, I know there is," said the _Princess_, "for there came a magpie
flying with a man's bone, and let it fall down the chimney. I made all
the haste I could to get it out, but all one can do, the smell doesn't
go off so soon."

So the _Giant_ said no more about it, and when night came, they went
to bed. After they had lain a while, the _Princess_ said:

"There is one thing I'd be so glad to ask you about, if I only
dared."

"What thing is that?" asked the _Giant_.

"Only where it is you keep your heart, since you don't carry it about
you," said the _Princess_.

"Ah! that's a thing you've no business to ask about; but if you must
know, it lies under the door-sill," said the _Giant_.

"Ho! ho!" said _Boots_ to himself under the bed, "then we'll soon see
if we can't find it."

Next morning the _Giant_ got up cruelly early, and strode off to the
wood; but he was hardly out of the house before _Boots_ and the
_Princess_ set to work to look under the door-sill for his heart; but
the more they dug, and the more they hunted, the more they couldn't
find it.

"He has baulked us this time," said the _Princess_, "but we'll try him
once more."

So she picked all the prettiest flowers she could find, and strewed
them over the door-sill, which they had laid in its right place again;
and when the time came for the _Giant_ to come home again, _Boots_
crept under the bed. Just as he was well under, back came the
_Giant_.

Snuff--snuff, went the _Giant's_ nose. "My eyes and limbs, what a
smell of Christian blood there is in here," said he.

"I know there is," said the _Princess_, "for there came a magpie
flying with a man's bone in his bill, and let it fall down the
chimney. I made as much haste as I could to get it out, but I daresay
it's that you smell."

So the _Giant_ held his peace, and said no more about it. A little
while after, he asked who it was that had strewed flowers about the
door-sill.

"Oh, I, of course," said the _Princess_.

"And, pray, what's the meaning of all this?" said the _Giant_.

"Ah!" said the _Princess_, "I'm so fond of you that I couldn't help
strewing them, when I knew that your heart lay under there."

"You don't say so," said the _Giant_; "but after all it doesn't lie
there at all."

So when they went to bed again in the evening, the _Princess_ asked
the _Giant_ again where his heart was, for she said she would so like
to know.

"Well," said the _Giant_, "if you must know, it lies away yonder in
the cupboard against the wall."

"So, so!" thought _Boots_ and the _Princess_; "then we'll soon try to
find it."

Next morning the _Giant_ was away early, and strode off to the wood,
and so soon as he was gone _Boots_ and the _Princess_ were in the
cupboard hunting for his heart, but the more they sought for it, the
less they found it.

"Well," said the _Princess_, "we'll just try him once more."

So she decked out the cupboard with flowers and garlands, and when the
time came for the _Giant_ to come home, _Boots_ crept under the bed
again.

Then back came the _Giant_.

Snuff--snuff! "My eyes and limbs, what a smell of Christian blood
there is in here!"

"I know there is," said the _Princess_; "for a little while since
there came a magpie flying with a man's bone in his bill, and let it
fall down the chimney. I made all the haste I could to get it out of
the house again; but after all my pains, I daresay it's that you
smell."

When the _Giant_ heard that, he said no more about it; but a little
while after, he saw how the cupboard was all decked about with flowers
and garlands; so he asked who it was that had done that? Who could it
be but the _Princess_?

"And, pray, what's the meaning of all this tomfoolery?" asked the
_Giant_.

"Oh, I'm so fond of you, I couldn't help doing it when I knew that
your heart lay there," said the _Princess_.

"How can you be so silly as to believe any such thing?" said the
_Giant_.

"Oh yes; how can I help believing it, when you say it?" said the
_Princess_.

"You're a goose," said the _Giant_; "where my heart is, you will never
come."

"Well," said the _Princess_; "but for all that, 'twould be such a
pleasure to know where it really lies."

Then the poor _Giant_ could hold out no longer, but was forced to
say:

[Illustration: "On that island stands a church; in that church is a well;
in that well swims a duck."]

"Far, far away in a lake lies an island; on that island stands a
church; in that church is a well; in that well swims a duck; in that
duck there is an egg, and in that egg there lies my heart,--you
darling!"

In the morning early, while it was still grey dawn, the _Giant_ strode
off to the wood.

[Illustration: He took a long, long farewell of the Princess, and when he
got out of the Giant's door, there stood the Wolf waiting for him.]

"Yes! now I must set off too," said _Boots_; "if I only knew how to
find the way." He took a long, long farewell of the _Princess_, and
when he got out of the _Giant's_ door, there stood the _Wolf_ waiting
for him. So _Boots_ told him all that had happened inside the house,
and said now he wished to ride to the well in the church, if he only
knew the way. So the _Wolf_ bade him jump on his back, he'd soon find
the way; and away they went, till the wind whistled after them, over
hedge and field, over hill and dale. After they had travelled many,
many days, they came at last to the lake. Then the _Prince_ did not
know how to get over it, but the _Wolf_ bade him only not be afraid,
but stick on, and so he jumped into the lake with the _Prince_ on his
back, and swam over to the island. So they came to the church; but the
church keys hung high, high up on the top of the tower, and at first
the _Prince_ did not know how to get them down.

"You must call on the raven," said the _Wolf_.

So the _Prince_ called on the raven, and in a trice the raven came,
and flew up and fetched the keys, and so the _Prince_ got into the
church. But when he came to the well, there lay the duck, and swam
about backwards and forwards, just as the _Giant_ had said. So the
_Prince_ stood and coaxed it, till it came to him, and he grasped it
in his hand; but just as he lifted it up from the water the duck
dropped the egg into the well, and then _Boots_ was beside himself to
know how to get it out again.

"Well, now you must call on the salmon to be sure," said the _Wolf_;
and the king's son called on the salmon, and the salmon came and
fetched up the egg from the bottom of the well.

Then the _Wolf_ told him to squeeze the egg, and as soon as ever he
squeezed it the _Giant_ screamed out.

"Squeeze it again," said the _Wolf_; and when the _Prince_ did so, the
_Giant_ screamed still more piteously, and begged and prayed so
prettily to be spared, saying he would do all that the _Prince_ wished
if he would only not squeeze his heart in two.

"Tell him, if he will restore to life again your six brothers and
their brides, whom he has turned to stone, you will spare his life,"
said the _Wolf_. Yes, the _Giant_ was ready to do that, and he turned
the six brothers into king's sons again, and their brides into king's
daughters.

"Now, squeeze the egg in two," said the _Wolf_. So _Boots_ squeezed
the egg to pieces, and the _Giant_ burst at once.

Now, when he had made an end of the _Giant_, _Boots_ rode back again
on the _Wolf_ to the _Giant's_ house, and there stood all his six
brothers alive and merry, with their brides. Then _Boots_ went into
the hill-side after his bride, and so they all set off home again to
their father's house. And you may fancy how glad the old king was when
he saw all his seven sons come back, each with his bride--"But the
loveliest bride of all is the bride of _Boots_, after all," said the
king, "and he shall sit uppermost at the table, with her by his
side."

So he sent out, and called a great wedding-feast, and the mirth was
both loud and long, and if they have not done feasting, why, they are
still at it.




THE PRINCESS ON THE GLASS HILL


Once on a time there was a man who had a meadow, which lay high up on
the hill-side, and in the meadow was a barn, which he had built to
keep his hay in. Now, I must tell you, there hadn't been much in the
barn for the last year or two, for every St. John's night, when the
grass stood greenest and deepest, the meadow was eaten down to the
very ground the next morning, just as if a whole drove of sheep had
been there feeding on it over night. This happened once, and it
happened twice; so at last the man grew weary of losing his crop of
hay, and said to his sons--for he had three of them, and the youngest
was nicknamed _Boots_, of course--that now one of them must go and
sleep in the barn in the outlying field when St. John's night came,
for it was too good a joke that his grass should be eaten, root and
blade, this year, as it had been the last two years. So whichever of
them went must keep a sharp look-out; that was what their father
said.

Well, the eldest son was ready to go and watch the meadow; trust him
for looking after the grass! It shouldn't be his fault if man or
beast, or the fiend himself, got a blade of grass. So, when evening
came, he set off to the barn, and lay down to sleep; but a little on
in the night came such a clatter, and such an earthquake, that walls
and roof shook, and groaned, and creaked; then up jumped the lad, and
took to his heels as fast as ever he could; nor dared he once look
round till he reached home; and as for the hay, why it was eaten up
this year just as it had been twice before.

The next St. John's night, the man said again, it would never do to
lose all the grass in the outlying field year after year in this way,
so one of his sons must just trudge off to watch it, and watch it well
too. Well, the next oldest son was ready to try his luck, so he set
off, and lay down to sleep in the barn as his brother had done before
him; but as the night wore on, there came on a rumbling and quaking of
the earth, worse even than on the last St. John's night, and when the
lad heard it, he got frightened, and took to his heels as though he
were running a race.

Next year the turn came to _Boots_; but when he made ready to go, the
other two began to laugh and to make game of him, saying:

"You're just the man to watch the hay, that you are; you, who have
done nothing all your life but sit in the ashes and toast yourself by
the fire."

But _Boots_ did not care a pin for their chattering, and stumped away
as evening grew on, up the hill-side to the outlying field. There he
went inside the barn and lay down; but in about an hour's time the
barn began to groan and creak, so that it was dreadful to hear.

"Well," said _Boots_ to himself, "if it isn't worse than this, I can
stand it well enough."

A little while after came another creak and an earthquake, so that the
litter in the barn flew about the lad's ears. "Oh!" said _Boots_ to
himself, "if it isn't worse than this, I daresay I can stand it out."

But just then came a third rumbling, and a third earthquake, so that
the lad thought walls and roof were coming down on his head; but it
passed off, and all was still as death about him.

"It'll come again, I'll be bound," thought _Boots_; but no, it didn't
come again; still it was, and still it stayed; but after he had lain a
little while, he heard a noise as if a horse were standing just
outside the barn-door, and cropping the grass. He stole to the door,
and peeped through a chink, and there stood a horse feeding away. So
big, and fat, and grand a horse, _Boots_ had never set eyes on; by his
side on the grass lay a saddle and bridle, and a full set of armour
for a knight, all of brass, so bright that the light gleamed from it.

"Ho, ho!" thought the lad; "it's you, is it, that eats up our hay?
I'll soon put a spoke in your wheel, just see if I don't."

So he lost no time, but took the steel out of his tinder-box, and
threw it over the horse; then it had no power to stir from the spot,
and became so tame that the lad could do what he liked with it. So he
got on its back, and rode off with it to a place which no one knew of,
and there he put up the horse. When he got home, his brothers laughed
and asked how he had fared?

"You didn't lie long in the barn, even if you had the heart to go so
far as the field."

"Well," said _Boots_, "all I can say is, I lay in the barn till the
sun rose, and neither saw nor heard anything; I can't think what there
was in the barn to make you both so afraid."

"A pretty story," said his brothers; "but we'll soon see how you have
watched the meadow;" so they set off; but when they reached it, there
stood the grass as deep and thick as it had been over night.

Well, the next St. John's eve it was the same story over again;
neither of the elder brothers dared to go out to the outlying field to
watch the crop; but _Boots_, he had the heart to go, and everything
happened just as it had happened the year before. First a clatter and
an earthquake, then a greater clatter and another earthquake, and so
on a third time; only this year the earthquakes were far worse than
the year before. Then all at once everything was as still as death,
and the lad heard how something was cropping the grass outside the
barn-door, so he stole to the door, and peeped through a chink; and
what do you think he saw? Why, another horse standing right up against
the wall, and chewing and champing with might and main. It was far
finer and fatter than that which came the year before, and it had a
saddle on its back, and a bridle on its neck, and a full suit of mail
for a knight lay by its side, all of silver, and as grand as you would
wish to see.

"Ho, ho!" said _Boots_ to himself; "it's you that gobbles up our hay,
is it? I'll soon put a spoke in your wheel;" and with that he took the
steel out of his tinder-box, and threw it over the horse's crest,
which stood as still as a lamb. Well, the lad rode this horse, too, to
the hiding-place where he kept the other one, and after that he went
home.

"I suppose you'll tell us," said one of his brothers, "there's a fine
crop this year too, up in the hayfield."

"Well, so there is," said _Boots_; and off ran the others to see, and
there stood the grass thick and deep, as it was the year before; but
they didn't give _Boots_ softer words for all that.

Now, when the third St. John's eve came, the two elder brothers still
hadn't the heart to lie out in the barn and watch the grass, for they
had got so scared at heart the nights they lay there before, that they
couldn't get over the fright; but _Boots_, he dared to go; and, to
make a very long story short, the very same thing happened this time
as had happened twice before. Three earthquakes came, one after the
other, each worse than the one which went before, and when the last
came, the lad danced about with the shock from one barn wall to the
other; and after that, all at once, it was still as death. Now when he
had laid a little while, he heard something tugging away at the grass
outside the barn, so he stole again to the door-chink, and peeped out,
and there stood a horse close outside--far, far bigger and fatter than
the two he had taken before.

"Ho, ho!" said the lad to himself, "it's you, is it, that comes here
eating up our hay? I'll soon stop that--I'll soon put a spoke in your
wheel." So he caught up his steel and threw it over his horse's neck,
and in a trice it stood as if it were nailed to the ground, and
_Boots_ could do as he pleased with it. Then he rode off with it to
the hiding-place where he kept the other two, and then went home. When
he got home, his two brothers made game of him as they had done
before, saying, they could see he had watched the grass well, for he
looked for all the world as if he were walking in his sleep, and many
other spiteful things they said, but _Boots_ gave no heed to them,
only asking them to go and see for themselves; and when they went,
there stood the grass as fine and deep this time as it had been twice
before.

Now, you must know that the king of the country where _Boots_ lived
had a daughter, whom he would only give to the man who could ride up
over the hill of glass, for there was a high, high hill, all of glass,
as smooth and slippery as ice, close by the _King's_ palace. Upon the
tip top of the hill the _King's_ daughter was to sit, with three
golden apples in her lap, and the man who could ride up and carry off
the three golden apples, was to have half the kingdom, and the
_Princess_ to wife. This the _King_ had stuck up on all the
church-doors in his realm, and had given it out in many other
kingdoms besides. Now, this _Princess_ was so lovely that all who set
eyes on her fell over head and ears in love with her whether they
would or no. So I needn't tell you how all the princes and knights who
heard of her were eager to win her to wife, and half the kingdom
beside; and how they came riding from all parts of the world on high
prancing horses, and clad in the grandest clothes, for there wasn't
one of them who hadn't made up his mind that he, and he alone, was to
win the _Princess_.

So when the day of trial came, which the king had fixed, there was
such a crowd of princes and knights under the _Glass Hill_, that it
made one's head whirl to look at them, and everyone in the country
who could even crawl along was off to the hill, for they were all
eager to see the man who was to win the _Princess_. So the two elder
brothers set off with the rest; but as for _Boots_, they said outright
he shouldn't go with them, for if they were seen with such a dirty
changeling, all begrimed with smut from cleaning their shoes and
sifting cinders in the dust-hole, they said folk would make game of
them.

"Very well," said _Boots_, "it's all one to me. I can go alone, and
stand or fall by myself."

Now when the two brothers came to the _Hill of Glass_, the knights and
princes were all hard at it, riding their horses till they were all in
a foam; but it was no good, by my troth; for as soon as ever the
horses set foot on the hill, down they slipped, and there wasn't one
who could get a yard or two up; and no wonder, for the hill was as
smooth as a sheet of glass, and as steep as a house-wall. But all were
eager to have the _Princess_ and half the kingdom. So they rode and
slipped, and slipped and rode, and still it was the same story over
again. At last all their horses were so weary that they could scarce
lift a leg, and in such a sweat that the lather dripped from them, and
so the knights had to give up trying any more. So the king was just
thinking that he would proclaim a new trial for the next day, to see
if they would have better luck, when all at once a knight came riding
up on so brave a steed, that no one had ever seen the like of it in
his born days, and the knight had mail of brass, and the horse a brass
bit in his mouth, so bright that the sunbeams shone from it. Then all
the others called out to him he might just as well spare himself the
trouble of riding at the Hill, for it would lead to no good; but he
gave no heed to them, and put his horse at the hill, and went up it
like nothing for a good way, about a third of the height; and when he
had got so far, he turned his horse round and rode down again. So
lovely a knight the _Princess_ thought she had never yet seen; and
while he was riding, she sat and thought to herself:

"Would to heaven he might only come up and down the other side."

And when she saw him turning back, she threw down one of the golden
apples after him, and it rolled down into his shoe. But when he got to
the bottom of the hill, he rode off so fast that no one could tell
what had become of him. That evening all the knights and princes were
to go before the king, that he who had ridden so far up the hill might
show the apple which the _Princess_ had thrown, but there was no one
who had anything to show. One after the other they all came, but not a
man of them could show the apple.

At even the brothers of _Boots_ came home too, and had such a long
story to tell about the riding up the hill.

"First of all," they said, "there was not one of the whole lot who
could get so much as a stride up; but at last came one who had a suit
of brass mail, and a brass bridle and saddle, all so bright that the
sun shone from them a mile off. He was a chap to ride, just! He rode a
third of the way up the _Hill of Glass_, and he could easily have
ridden the whole way up, if he chose; but he turned round and rode
down, thinking, maybe, that was enough for once."

"Oh! I should so like to have seen him, that I should," said _Boots_,
who sat by the fireside, and stuck his feet into the cinders, as was
his wont.

"Oh!" said his brothers, "you would, would you? You look fit to keep
company with such high lords, nasty beast that you are, sitting there
amongst the ashes."

Next day the brothers were all for setting off again, and _Boots_
begged them this time, too, to let him go with them and see the
riding; but no, they wouldn't have him at any price, he was too ugly
and nasty, they said.

"Well, well!" said _Boots_; "if I go at all, I must go by myself. I'm
not afraid."

So when the brothers got to the _Hill of Glass_, all the princes and
knights began to ride again, and you may fancy they had taken care to
shoe their horses sharp; but it was no good--they rode and slipped,
and slipped and rode, just as they had done the day before, and there
was not one who could get so far as a yard up the hill. And when they
had worn out their horses, so that they could not stir a leg, they
were all forced to give it up as a bad job. So the king thought he
might as well proclaim that the riding should take place the day after
for the last time, just to give them one chance more; but all at once
it came across his mind that he might as well wait a little longer, to
see if the knight in brass mail would come this day too. Well, they
saw nothing of him; but all at once came one riding on a steed, far,
far braver and finer than that on which the knight in brass had
ridden, and he had silver mail, and a silver saddle and bridle, all so
bright that the sunbeams gleamed and glanced from them far away. Then
the others shouted out to him again, saying, he might as well hold
hard, and not try to ride up the hill, for all his trouble would be
thrown away; but the knight paid no heed to them, and rode straight
at the hill, and right up it, till he had gone two-thirds of the way,
and then he wheeled his horse round and rode down again. To tell the
truth, the _Princess_ liked him still better than the knight in brass,
and she sat and wished he might only be able to come right up to the
top, and down the other side; but when she saw him turning back, she
threw the second apple after him, and it rolled down and fell into his
shoe. But, as soon as ever he had come down from the _Hill of Glass_,
he rode off so fast that no one could see what became of him.

At even, when all were to go in before the king and the _Princess_,
that he who had the golden apple might show it, in they went, one
after the other, but there was no one who had any apple to show, and
the two brothers, as they had done on the former day, went home and
told how things had gone, and how all had ridden at the hill, and none
got up.

"But, last of all," they said, "came one in a silver suit, and his
horse had a silver saddle and a silver bridle. He was just a chap to
ride; and he got two-thirds up the hill, and then turned back. He was
a fine fellow, and no mistake; and the _Princess_ threw the second
gold apple to him."

"Oh!" said _Boots_, "I should so like to have seen him too, that I
should."

"A pretty story," they said. "Perhaps you think his coat of mail was
as bright as the ashes you are always poking about, and sifting, you
nasty dirty beast."

The third day everything happened as it had happened the two days
before. _Boots_ begged to go and see the sight, but the two wouldn't
hear of his going with them. When they got to the hill there was no
one who could get so much as a yard up it; and now all waited for the
knight in silver mail, but they neither saw nor heard of him. At last
came one riding on a steed, so brave that no one had ever seen his
match; and the knight had a suit of golden mail, and a golden saddle
and bridle, so wondrous bright that the sunbeams gleamed from them a
mile off. The other knights and princes could not find time to call
out to him not to try his luck, for they were amazed to see how grand
he was. So he rode right at the hill, and tore up it like nothing, so
that the _Princess_ hadn't even time to wish that he might get up the
whole way. As soon as ever he reached the top, he took the third
golden apple from the _Princess'_ lap, and then turned his horse and
rode down again. As soon as he got down, he rode off at full speed,
and was out of sight in no time.

Now, when the brothers got home at even, you may fancy what long
stories they told, how the riding had gone off that day; and amongst
other things, they had a deal to say about the knight in golden mail.

"He just was a chap to ride!" they said; "so grand a knight isn't to
be found in the wide world."

"Oh!" said _Boots_, "I should so like to have seen him, that I
should."

"Ah!" said his brothers, "his mail shone a deal brighter than the
glowing coals which you are always poking and digging at; nasty dirty
beast that you are."

Next day all the knights and princes were to pass before the king and
the _Princess_--it was too late to do so the night before, I
suppose--that he who had the gold apple might bring it forth; but one
came after another, first the _Princes_, and then the knights, and
still no one could show the gold apple.

"Well," said the king, "some one must have it, for it was something we
all saw with our own eyes, how a man came and rode up and bore it
off."

So he commanded that every man who was in the kingdom should come up
to the palace and see if they could show the apple. Well, they all
came one after another, but no one had the golden apple, and after a
long time the two brothers of _Boots_ came. They were the last of all,
so the king asked them if there was no one else in the kingdom who
hadn't come.

"Oh, yes," said they; "we have a brother, but he never carried off the
golden apple. He hasn't stirred out of the dusthole on any of the
three days."

"Never mind that," said the king; "he may as well come up to the
palace like the rest."

So _Boots_ had to go up to the palace.

"How now," said the king; "have you got the golden apple? Speak out!"

"Yes, I have," said _Boots_; "here is the first, and here is the
second, and here is the third too;" and with that he pulled all three
golden apples out of his pocket, and at the same time threw off his
sooty rags, and stood before them in his gleaming golden mail.

"Yes!" said the king; "you shall have my daughter, and half my
kingdom, for you well deserve both her and it."

So they got ready for the wedding, and _Boots_ got the _Princess_ to
wife, and there was great merry-making at the bridal-feast, you may
fancy, for they could all be merry though they couldn't ride up the
_Hill of Glass_; and all I can say is, if they haven't left off their
merry-making yet, why, they're still at it.




THE WIDOW'S SON


Once on a time there was a poor, poor _Widow_, who had an only _Son_.
She dragged on with the boy till he had been confirmed, and then she
said she couldn't feed him any longer, he must just go out and earn
his own bread. So the lad wandered out into the world, and when he had
walked a day or so, a strange man met him.

"Whither away?" asked the man.

[Illustration: When he had walked a day or so, a strange man met him.
"Whither away?" asked the man.]

"Oh, I'm going out into the world to try and get a place," said the
lad.

"Will you come and serve me?" said the man.

"Oh, yes; just as soon you as any one else," said the lad.

"Well, you'll have a good place with me," said the man; "for you'll
only have to keep me company, and do nothing at all else beside."

So the lad stopped with him, and lived on the fat of the land, both in
meat and drink, and had little or nothing to do; but he never saw a
living soul in that man's house.

So one day the man said:

"Now, I'm going off for eight days, and that time you'll have to spend
here all alone; but you must not go into any one of these four rooms
here. If you do, I'll take your life when I come back."

"No," said the lad, he'd be sure not to do that. But when the man had
been gone three or four days, the lad couldn't bear it any longer, but
went into the first room, and when he got inside he looked round, but
he saw nothing but a shelf over the door where a bramble-bush rod
lay.

Well, indeed! thought the lad; a pretty thing to forbid my seeing
this.

So when the eight days were out, the man came home, and the first
thing he said was:

"You haven't been into any of these rooms, of course."

"No, no; that I haven't," said the lad.

"I'll soon see that," said the man, and went at once into the room
where the lad had been.

"Nay, but you have been in here," said he; "and now you shall lose
your life."

Then the lad begged and prayed so hard that he got off with his life,
but the man gave him a good thrashing. And when it was over, they
were as good friends as ever.

Some time after the man set off again, and said he should be away
fourteen days; but before he went he forbade the lad to go into any of
the rooms he had not been in before; as for that he had been in, he
might go into that, and welcome. Well, it was the same story over
again, except that the lad stood out eight days before he went in. In
this room, too, he saw nothing but a shelf over the door, and a big
stone, and a pitcher of water on it. Well, after all, there's not much
to be afraid of my seeing here, thought the lad.

But when the man came back, he asked if he had been into any of the
rooms. No, the lad hadn't done anything of the kind.

"Well, well; I'll soon see that," said the man; and when he saw the
lad had been in them after all, he said:

"Ah! now I'll spare you no longer; now you must lose your life."

But the lad begged and prayed for himself again, and so this time too
he got off with stripes; though he got as many as his skin would
carry. But when he got sound and well again, he led just as easy a
life as ever, and he and the man were just as good friends.

So a while after the man was to take another journey, and now he said
he should be away three weeks, and he forbade the lad anew to go into
the third room, for if he went in there he might just make up his mind
at once to lose his life. Then after fourteen days the lad couldn't
bear it, but crept into the room, but he saw nothing at all in there
but a trap door on the floor; and when he lifted it up and looked
down, there stood a great copper cauldron which bubbled up and boiled
away down there; but he saw no fire under it.

"Well, I should just like to know if it's hot," thought the lad, and
struck his finger down into the broth, and when he pulled it out
again, lo! it was gilded all over. So the lad scraped and scrubbed it,
but the gilding wouldn't go off, so he bound a piece of rag round it;
and when the man came back, and asked what was the matter with his
finger, the lad said he'd given it such a bad cut. But the man tore
off the rag, and then he soon saw what was the matter with the finger.
First he wanted to kill the lad outright, but when he wept, and
begged, he only gave him such a thrashing that he had to keep his bed
three days. After that the man took down a pot from the wall, and
rubbed him over with some stuff out of it, and so the lad was as
sound and fresh as ever.

So after a while the man started off again, and this time he was to be
away a month. But before he went, he said to the lad, if he went into
the fourth room he might give up all hope of saving his life.

Well, the lad stood out for two or three weeks, but then he couldn't
hold out any longer; he must and would go into that room, and so in he
stole. There stood a great black horse tied up in a stall by himself,
with a manger of red-hot coals at his head and a truss of hay at his
tail. Then the lad thought this all wrong, so he changed them about,
and put the hay at his head. Then said the _Horse_:

"Since you are so good at heart as to let me have some food, I'll set
you free, that I will. For if the _Troll_ comes back and finds you
here, he'll kill you outright. But now you must go up to the room
which lies just over this, and take a coat of mail out of those that
hang there; and mind, whatever you do, don't take any of the bright
ones, but the most rusty of all you see, that's the one to take; and
sword and saddle you must choose for yourself just in the same way."

So the lad did all that; but it was a heavy load for him to carry them
all down at once.

When he came back, the _Horse_ told him to pull off his clothes and
get into the cauldron which stood and boiled in the other room, and
bathe himself there. "If I do," thought the lad, "I shall look an
awful fright;" but for all that, he did as he was told. So when he had
taken his bath, he became so handsome and sleek, and as red and white
as milk and blood, and much stronger than he had been before.

"Do you feel any change?" asked the _Horse_.

"Yes," said the lad.

"Try and lift me, then," said the _Horse_.

Oh yes! he could do that, and as for the sword, he brandished it like
a feather.

"Now saddle me," said the _Horse_, "and put on the coat of mail, and
then take the bramble-bush rod, and the stone, and the pitcher of
water, and the pot of ointment, and then we'll be off as fast as we
can."

So when the lad had got on the horse, off they went at such a rate, he
couldn't at all tell how they went. But when he had ridden awhile, the
_Horse_ said, "I think I hear a noise; look round! can you see
anything?"

"Yes; there are ever so many coming after us, at least a score," said
the lad.

"Aye, aye, that's the _Troll_ coming," said the _Horse_; "now he's
after us with his pack."

So they rode on a while, until those who followed were close behind
them.

"Now throw your bramble-bush rod behind you, over your shoulder," said
the _Horse_; "but mind you throw it a good way off my back."

So the lad did that, and all at once a close, thick bramblewood grew
up behind them. So the lad rode on a long, long time, while the
_Troll_ and his crew had to go home to fetch something to hew their
way through the wood. But at last the _Horse_ said again:

"Look behind you! can you see anything now?"

"Yes, ever so many," said the lad, "as many as would fill a large
church."

"Aye, aye, that's the _Troll_ and his crew," said the _Horse_; "now
he's got more to back him; but now throw down the stone, and mind you
throw it far behind me."

And as soon as the lad did what the _Horse_ said, up rose a great
black hill of rock behind him. So the _Troll_ had to be off home to
fetch something to mine his way through the rock; and while the
_Troll_ did that, the lad rode a good bit further on. But still the
_Horse_ begged him to look behind him, and then he saw a troop like a
whole army behind him, and they glistened in the sunbeams.

[Illustration: But still the Horse begged him to look behind him.]

"Aye, aye," said the _Horse_, "that's the _Troll_, and now he's got
his whole band with him, so throw the pitcher of water behind you, but
mind you don't spill any of it upon me."

So the lad did that; but in spite of all the pains he took, he still
spilt one drop on the horse's flank. So it became a great deep lake;
and because of that one drop, the horse found himself far out in it,
but still he swam safe to land. But when the _Trolls_ came to the
lake, they lay down to drink it dry; and so they swilled and swilled
till they burst.

"Now we're rid of them," said the _Horse_.

So when they had gone a long, long while, they came to a green patch
in a wood.

"Now, strip off all your arms," said the _Horse_, "and only put on
your ragged clothes, and take the saddle off me, and let me loose, and
hang all my clothing and your arms up inside that great hollow
lime-tree yonder. Then make yourself a wig of fir-moss, and go up to
the king's palace, which lies close here, and ask for a place.
Whenever you need me, only come here and shake the bridle, and I'll
come to you."

Yes! the lad did all his _Horse_ told him, and as soon as ever he put
on the wig of moss he became so ugly, and pale, and miserable to look
at, no one would have known him again. Then he went up to the king's
palace and begged first for leave to be in the kitchen, and bring in
wood and water for the cook, but then the kitchen-maid asked him:

"Why do you wear that ugly wig? Off with it. I won't have such a
fright in here."

"No, I can't do that," said the lad; "for I'm not quite right in my
head."

"Do you think then I'll have you in here about the food," cried the
cook. "Away with you to the coachman; you're best fit to go and clean
the stable."

But when the coachman begged him to take his wig off, he got the same
answer, and he wouldn't have him either.

"You'd best go down to the gardener," said he; "you're best fit to go
about and dig in the garden."

So he got leave to be with the gardener, but none of the other
servants would sleep with him, and so he had to sleep by himself under
the steps of the summer-house. It stood upon beams, and had a high
staircase. Under that he got some turf for his bed, and there he lay
as well as he could.

So, when he had been some time at the palace, it happened one morning,
just as the sun rose, that the lad had taken off his wig, and stood
and washed himself, and then he was so handsome, it was a joy to look
at him.

So the _Princess_ saw from her window the lovely gardener's boy, and
thought she had never seen any one so handsome. Then she asked the
gardener why he lay out there under the steps.

"Oh," said the gardener, "none of his fellow-servants will sleep with
him; that's why."

"Let him come up to-night, and lie at the door inside my bedroom, and
then they'll not refuse to sleep with him any more," said the
_Princess_.

So the gardener told that to the lad.

"Do you think I'll do any such thing?" said the lad. "Why they'd say
next there was something between me and the _Princess_."

"Yes," said the gardener, "you've good reason to fear any such thing,
you who are so handsome."

"Well, well," said the lad, "since it's her will, I suppose I must
go."

So, when he was to go up the steps in the evening, he tramped and
stamped so on the way, that they had to beg him to tread softly lest
the _King_ should come to know it. So he came into the _Princess'_
bedroom, lay down, and began to snore at once. Then the _Princess_
said to her maid:

"Go gently, and just pull his wig off;" and she went up to him.

But just as she was going to whisk it off, he caught hold of it with
both hands, and said she should never have it. After that he lay down
again, and began to snore. Then the _Princess_ gave her maid a wink,
and this time she whisked off the wig; and there lay the lad so
lovely, and white and red, just as the _Princess_ had seen him in the
morning sun.

[Illustration: And this time she whisked off the wig; and there lay the
lad, so lovely, and white and red, just as the Princess had seen him in
the morning sun.]

After that the lad slept every night in the _Princess'_ bedroom.

But it wasn't long before the _King_ came to hear how the gardener's
lad slept every night in the _Princess'_ bedroom; and he got so wroth
he almost took the lad's life. He didn't do that, however, but he
threw him into the prison tower; and as for his daughter, he shut her
up in her own room, whence she never got leave to stir day or night.
All that she begged, and all that she prayed, for the lad and herself,
was no good. The _King_ was only more wroth than ever.

Some time after came a war and uproar in the land, and the _King_ had
to take up arms against another king who wished to take the kingdom
from him. So when the lad heard that, he begged the gaoler to go to
the _King_ and ask for a coat of mail and a sword, and for leave to go
to the war. All the rest laughed when the gaoler told his errand, and
begged the _King_ to let him have an old worn-out suit, that they
might have the fun of seeing such a wretch in battle. So he got that,
and an old broken-down hack besides, which went upon three legs, and
dragged the fourth after it.

[Illustration: The Lad in the Battle.]

Then they went out to meet the foe; but they hadn't got far from the
palace before the lad got stuck fast in a bog with his hack. There he
sat and dug his spurs in, and cried, "Gee up! gee up!" to his hack.
And all the rest had their fun out of this, and laughed, and made game
of the lad as they rode past him. But they were scarcely gone, before
he ran to the lime-tree, threw on his coat of mail, and shook the
bridle, and there came the _Horse_ in a trice, and said: "Do now your
best, and I'll do mine."

But when the lad came up the battle had begun, and the _King_ was in a
sad pinch; but no sooner had the lad rushed into the thick of it than
the foe was beaten back, and put to flight. The _King_ and his men
wondered and wondered who it could be who had come to help them, but
none of them got so near him as to be able to talk to him, and as soon
as the fight was over he was gone. When they went back, there sat the
lad still in the bog, and dug his spurs into his three-legged hack,
and they all laughed again.

"No! only just look," they said; "there the fool sits still."

The next day when they went out to battle, they saw the lad sitting
there still, so they laughed again, and made game of him; but as soon
as ever they had ridden by, the lad ran again to the lime-tree, and
all happened as on the first day. Every one wondered what strange
champion it could be that had helped them, but no one got so near him
as to say a word to him; and no one guessed it could be the lad;
that's easy to understand.

So when they went home at night, and saw the lad still sitting there
on his hack, they burst out laughing at him again, and one of them
shot an arrow at him and hit him in the leg. So he began to shriek and
to bewail; 'twas enough to break one's heart; and so the _King_ threw
his pocket-handkerchief to him to bind his wound.

When they went out to battle the third day, the lad still sat there.

"Gee up! gee up!" he said to his hack.

"Nay, nay," said the _King's_ men; "if he won't stick there till he's
starved to death."

And then they rode on, and laughed at him till they were fit to fall
from their horses. When they were gone, he ran again to the lime, and
came up to the battle just in the very nick of time. This day he slew
the enemy's king, and then the war was over at once.

When the battle was over, the _King_ caught sight of his handkerchief,
which the strange warrior had bound round his leg, and so it wasn't
hard to find him out. So they took him with great joy between them to
the palace, and the _Princess_, who saw him from her window, got so
glad, no one can believe it.

"Here comes my own true love," she said.

Then he took the pot of ointment and rubbed himself on the leg, and
after that he rubbed all the wounded, and so they all got well again
in a moment.

So he got the _Princess_ to wife; but when he went down into the
stable where his horse was on the day the wedding was to be, there it
stood so dull and heavy, and hung its ears down, and wouldn't eat its
corn. So when the young _King_--for he was now a king, and had got
half the kingdom--spoke to him, and asked what ailed him, the _Horse_
said:

"Now I have helped you on, and now I won't live any longer. So just
take the sword, and cut my head off."

"No, I'll do nothing of the kind," said the young _King_; "but you
shall have all you want, and rest all your life."

"Well," said the _Horse_, "if you don't do as I tell you, see if I
don't take your life somehow."

So the _King_ had to do what he asked; but when he swung the sword and
was to cut his head off, he was so sorry he turned away his face, for
he would not see the stroke fall. But as soon as ever he had cut off
the head, there stood the loveliest _Prince_ on the spot where the
horse had stood.

"Why, where in all the world did you come from?" asked the _King_.

"It was I who was a horse," said the _Prince_; "for I was king of
that land whose king you slew yesterday. He it was who threw this
_Troll's_ shape over me, and sold me to the _Troll_. But now he is
slain I get my own again, and you and I will be neighbour kings, but
war we will never make on one another."

And they didn't either; for they were friends as long as they lived,
and each paid the other very many visits.




THE THREE BILLY-GOATS GRUFF


Once on a time there were three _Billy-goats_, who were to go up to
the hill-side to make themselves fat, and the name of all three was
"_Gruff_."

On the way up was a bridge over a burn they had to cross; and under
the bridge lived a great ugly _Troll_, with eyes as big as saucers,
and a nose as long as a poker.

So first of all came the youngest billy-goat _Gruff_ to cross the
bridge.

"Trip, trap! trip, trap!" went the bridge.

"Who's that tripping over my bridge?" roared the _Troll_.

"Oh! it is only I, the tiniest billy-goat _Gruff_; and I'm going up to
the hill-side to make myself fat," said the billy-goat, with such a
small voice.

"Now, I'm coming to gobble you up," said the _Troll_.

"Oh, no! pray don't take me. I'm too little, that I am," said the
billy-goat; "wait a bit till the second billy-goat _Gruff_ comes, he's
much bigger."

"Well! be off with you," said the _Troll_.

A little while after came the second billy-goat _Gruff_ to cross the
bridge.

"TRIP, TRAP! TRIP, TRAP! TRIP, TRAP!" went the bridge.

"WHO'S THAT tripping over my bridge?" roared the _Troll_.

"Oh! It's the second billy-goat _Gruff_, and I'm going up to the
hill-side to make myself fat," said the billy-goat, who hadn't such a
small voice.

"Now, I'm coming to gobble you up," said the _Troll_.

"Oh, no! don't take me, wait a little till the big billy-goat _Gruff_
comes, he's much bigger."

"Very well! be off with you," said the _Troll_.

But just then up came the big billy-goat _Gruff_.

"TRIP, TRAP! TRIP, TRAP! TRIP, TRAP!" went the bridge, for the
billy-goat was so heavy that the bridge creaked and groaned under
him.

"WHO'S THAT tramping over my bridge?" roared the _Troll_.

"IT'S I! THE BIG BILLY-GOAT GRUFF," said the billy-goat, who had an
ugly hoarse voice of his own.

"Now, I'm coming to gobble you up," roared the _Troll_.

            "Well, come along! I've got two spears,
            And I'll poke your eyeballs out at your ears;
            I've got besides two curling-stones,
            And I'll crush you to bits, body and bones."

That was what the big billy-goat said; and so he flew at the _Troll_
and poked his eyes out with his horns, and crushed him to bits, body
and bones, and tossed him out into the burn, and after that he went up
to the hill-side. There the billy-goats got so fat they were scarce
able to walk home again; and if the fat hasn't fallen off them, why
they're still fat; and so:

                        Snip, snap, snout,
                        This tale's told out.




THE THREE PRINCESSES IN THE BLUE MOUNTAIN


There were once upon a time a _King_ and _Queen_ who had no children,
and they took it so much to heart that they hardly ever had a happy
moment. One day the _King_ stood in the portico and looked out over
the big meadows and all that was his. But he felt he could have no
enjoyment out of it all, since he did not know what would become of it
after his time. As he stood there pondering, an old beggar woman came
up to him and asked him for a trifle in heaven's name. She greeted him
and curtsied, and asked what ailed the _King_, since he looked so
sad.

"You can't do anything to help me, my good woman," said the _King_;
"it's no use telling you."

"I am not so sure about that," said the beggar woman. "Very little is
wanted when luck is in the way. The _King_ is thinking that he has no
heir to his crown and kingdom, but he need not mourn on that account,"
she said. "The _Queen_ shall have three daughters, but great care must
be taken that they do not come out under the open heavens before they
are all fifteen years old; otherwise a snowdrift will come and carry
them away."

When the time came the _Queen_ had a beautiful baby girl; the year
after she had another, and the third year she also had a girl.

The _King_ and _Queen_ were glad beyond all measure; but although the
_King_ was very happy, he did not forget to set a watch at the Palace
door, so that the _Princesses_ should not get out.

As they grew up they became both fair and beautiful, and all went well
with them in every way. Their only sorrow was that they were not
allowed to go out and play like other children. For all they begged
and prayed their parents, and for all they besought the sentinel, it
was of no avail; go out they must not before they were fifteen years
old, all of them.

So one day, not long before the fifteenth birthday of the youngest
_Princess_, the _King_ and the _Queen_ were out driving, and the
_Princesses_ were standing at the window and looking out. The sun was
shining, and everything looked so green and beautiful that they felt
that they must go out, happen what might. So they begged and entreated
and urged the sentinel, all three of them, that he should let them
down into the garden. "He could see for himself how warm and pleasant
it was; no snowy weather could come on such a day." Well, he didn't
think it looked much like it either, and if they must go they had
better go, the soldier said; but it must only be for a minute, and he
himself would go with them and look after them.

When they got down into the garden they ran up and down, and filled
their laps with flowers and green leaves, the prettiest they could
find. At last they could manage no more, but just as they were going
indoors they caught sight of a large rose at the other end of the
garden. It was many times prettier than any they had gathered, so they
must have that also. But just as they bent down to take the rose a big
dense snowdrift came and carried them away.

[Illustration: Just as they bent down to take the rose a big dense
snow-drift came and carried them away.]

There was great mourning over the whole country, and the _King_ made
known from all the churches that any one who could save the
_Princesses_ should have half the kingdom and his golden crown and
whichever princess he liked to choose.

You can well understand there were plenty who wanted to gain half the
kingdom, and a princess into the bargain; so there were people of both
high and low degree who set out for all parts of the country. But
there was no one who could find the _Princesses_, or even get any
tidings of them.

When all the grand and rich people in the country had had their turn,
a captain and a lieutenant came to the Palace, and wanted to try their
luck. The _King_ fitted them out both with silver and gold, and wished
them success on their journey.

Then came a soldier, who lived with his mother in a little cottage
some way from the Palace. He had dreamt one night that he also was
trying to find the _Princesses_. When the morning came he still
remembered what he had dreamt, and told his mother about it.

"Some witchery must have got hold of you," said the woman, "but you
must dream the same thing three nights running, else there is nothing
in it." And the next two nights the same thing happened; he had the
same dream, and he felt he must go. So he washed himself and put on
his uniform, and went into the kitchen at the Palace. It was the day
after the captain and the lieutenant had set out.

"You had better go home again," said the _King_, "the _Princesses_ are
beyond your reach, I should say; and besides, I have spent so much
money on outfits that I have nothing left to-day. You had better come
back another time."

"If I go, I must go to-day," said the soldier. "Money I do not want; I
only need a drop in my flask and some food in my wallet," he said;
"but it must be a good walletful--as much meat and bacon as I can
carry."

Yes, that he might have if that was all he wanted.

So he set off, and he had not gone many miles before he overtook the
captain and the lieutenant.

"Where are you going?" asked the captain, when he saw the man in
uniform.

"I'm going to try if I can find the _Princesses_," answered the
soldier.

"So are we," said the captain, "and since your errand is the same, you
may keep company with us, for if we don't find them, you are not
likely to find them either, my lad," said he.

When they had gone awhile the soldier left the high road, and took a
path into the forest.

"Where are you going?" said the captain; "it is best to follow the
high road."

"That may be," said the soldier, "but this is my way."

He kept to the path, and when the others saw this they turned round
and followed him. Away they went further and further, far across big
moors and along narrow valleys.

And at last it became lighter, and when they had got out of the forest
altogether they came to a long bridge, which they had to cross. But on
that bridge a bear stood on guard. He rose on his hind legs and came
towards them, as if he wanted to eat them.

"What shall we do now?" said the captain.

"They say that the bear is fond of meat," said the soldier, and then
he threw a fore quarter to him, and so they got past. But when they
reached the other end of the bridge, they saw a lion, which came
roaring towards them with open jaws as if he wanted to swallow them.

"I think we had better turn right-about, we shall never be able to get
past him alive," said the captain.

"Oh, I don't think he is so very dangerous," said the soldier; "I have
heard that lions are very fond of bacon, and I have half a pig in my
wallet;" and then he threw a ham to the lion, who began eating and
gnawing, and thus they got past him also.

In the evening they came to a fine big house. Each room was more
gorgeous than the other; all was glitter and splendour wherever they
looked; but that did not satisfy their hunger. The captain and the
lieutenant went round rattling their money, and wanted to buy some
food; but they saw no people nor could they find a crumb of anything
in the house, so the soldier offered them some food from his wallet,
which they were not too proud to accept, nor did they want any
pressing. They helped themselves of what he had as if they had never
tasted food before.

The next day the captain said they would have to go out shooting and
try to get something to live upon. Close to the house was a large
forest where there were plenty of hares and birds. The lieutenant was
to remain at home and cook the remainder of the food in the soldier's
wallet. In the meantime the captain and the soldier shot so much game
that they were hardly able to carry it home. When they came to the
door they found the lieutenant in such a terrible plight that he was
scarcely able to open the door to them.

"What is the matter with you?" said the captain. The lieutenant then
told them that as soon as they were gone a tiny, little man, with a
long beard, who went on crutches, came in and asked so plaintively for
a penny; but no sooner had he got it than he let it fall on the
floor, and for all he raked and scraped with his crutch he was not
able to get hold of it, so stiff and stark was he.

"I pitied the poor, old body," said the lieutenant, "and so I bent
down to pick up the penny, but then he was neither stiff nor stark any
longer. He began to belabour me with his crutches till very soon I was
unable to move a limb."

"You ought to be ashamed of yourself! you, one of the king's officers,
to let an old cripple give you a thrashing, and then tell people of it
into the bargain!" said the captain. "Pshaw! to-morrow I'll stop at
home, and then you'll hear another story."

The next day the lieutenant and the soldier went out shooting and the
captain remained at home to do the cooking and look after the house.
But if he fared no worse, he certainly fared no better than the
lieutenant. In a little while the old man came in and asked for a
penny. He let it fall as soon as he got it; gone it was and could not
be found. So he asked the captain to help him to find it, and the
captain, without giving a thought, bent down to look for it. But no
sooner was he on his knees than the cripple began belabouring him with
his crutches, and every time the captain tried to rise, he got a blow
which sent him reeling. When the others came home in the evening, he
still lay on the same spot and could neither see nor speak.

The third day the soldier was to remain at home, while the other two
went out shooting. The captain said he must take care of himself, "for
the old fellow will soon put an end to you, my lad," said he.

"Oh, there can't be much life in one if such an old crook can take
it," said the soldier.

They were no sooner outside the door, than the old man came in and
asked for a penny again.

"Money I have never owned," said the soldier, "but food I'll give you,
as soon as it is ready," said he, "but if we are to get it cooked, you
must go and cut the wood."

"That I can't," said the old man.

"If you can't, you must learn," said the soldier. "I will soon show
you. Come along with me down to the wood-shed." There he dragged out a
heavy log and cut a cleft in it, and drove in a wedge till the cleft
deepened.

"Now you must lie down and look right along the cleft, and you'll soon
learn how to cut wood," said the soldier. "In the meantime I'll show
you how to use the axe."

The old man was not sufficiently cunning, and did as he was told; he
lay down and looked steadily along the log. When the soldier saw the
old man's beard had got well into the cleft, he struck out the wedge;
the cleft closed and the old man was caught by the beard. The soldier
began to beat him with the axe handle, and then swung the axe round
his head, and vowed that he would split his skull if he did not tell
him, there and then, where the _Princesses_ were.

"Spare my life, spare my life, and I'll tell you!" said the old man.
"To the east of the house there is a big mound; on top of the mound
you must dig out a square piece of turf, and then you will see a big
stone slab. Under that there is a deep hole through which you must let
yourself down, and you'll then come to another world where you will
find the _Princesses_. But the way is long and dark and it goes both
through fire and water."

When the soldier got to know this, he released the old man, who was
not long in making off.

When the captain and lieutenant came home they were surprised to find
the soldier alive. He told them what had happened from first to last,
where the _Princesses_ were and how they should find them. They
became as pleased as if they had already found them, and when they had
had some food, they took with them a basket and as much rope as they
could find, and all three set off to the mound. There they first dug
out the turf just as the old man had told them, and underneath they
found a big stone slab, which it took all their strength to turn over.
They then began to measure how deep it was; they joined on ropes both
two and three times, but they were no nearer the bottom the last time
than the first. At last they had to join all the ropes they had, both
the coarse and fine, and then they found it reached the bottom.

The captain was, of course, the first who wanted to descend; "But when
I tug at the rope you must make haste to drag me up again," he said.
He found the way both dark and unpleasant, but he thought he would go
on as long as it became no worse. But all at once he felt ice cold
water spouting about his ears; he became frightened to death and began
tugging at the rope.

The lieutenant was the next to try, but it fared no better with him.
No sooner had he got through the flood of water than he saw a blazing
fire yawning beneath him, which so frightened him that he also turned
back.

The soldier then got into the bucket, and down he went through fire
and water, right on till he came to the bottom, where it was so pitch
dark that he could not see his hand before him. He dared not let go
the basket, but went round in a circle, feeling and fumbling about
him. At last he discovered a gleam of light far, far away like the
dawn of day, and he went on in that direction.

When he had gone a bit it began to grow light around him, and before
long he saw a golden sun rising in the sky and everything around him
became as bright and beautiful as if in a fairy world.

First he came to some cattle, which were so fat that their hides
glistened a long way off, and when he had got past them he came to a
fine, big palace. He walked through many rooms without meeting
anybody. At last he heard the hum of a spinning wheel, and when he
entered the room he found the eldest _Princess_ sitting there spinning
copper yarn; the room and everything in it was of brightly polished
copper.

"Oh, dear; oh, dear! what are Christian people doing here?" said the
_Princess_. "Heaven preserve you! what do you want?"

"I want to set you free and get you out of the mountain," said the
soldier.

"Pray do not stay. If the troll comes home he will put an end to you
at once; he has three heads," said she.

"I do not care if he has four," said the soldier. "I am here, and here
I shall remain."

"Well, if you will be so headstrong, I must see if I can help you,"
said the _Princess_.

She then told him to creep behind the big brewing vat which stood in
the front hall; meanwhile she would receive the troll and scratch his
heads till he went to sleep.

"And when I go out and call the hens you must make haste and come in,"
she said. "But you must first try if you can swing the sword which is
lying on the table." No, it was too heavy, he could not even move it.
He had then to take a strengthening draught from the horn, which hung
behind the door; after that he was just able to stir it, so he took
another draught, and then he could lift it. At last he took a right,
big draught, and he could swing the sword as easily as anything.

All at once the troll came home; he walked so heavily that the palace
shook.

"Ugh, ugh! I smell Christian flesh and blood in my house," said he.

"Yes," answered the _Princess_, "a raven flew past here just now, and
in his beak he had a human bone, which he dropped down the chimney; I
threw it out and swept and cleaned up after it, but I suppose it still
smells."

"So it does," said the troll.

"But come and lie down and I'll scratch your heads," said the
_Princess_; "the smell will be gone by the time you wake."

[Illustration: The Troll was quite willing, and before long he fell
asleep and began snoring.]

The troll was quite willing, and before long he fell asleep and began
snoring. When she saw he was sleeping soundly, she placed some stools
and cushions under his heads and went to call the hens. The soldier
then stole into the room with the sword, and with one blow cut all
the three heads off the troll.

The _Princess_ was as pleased as a fiddler, and went with the soldier
to her sisters, so that he could also set them free. First of all they
went across a courtyard and then through many long rooms till they
came to a big door.

"Here you must enter: here she is," said the _Princess_. When he
opened the door he found himself in a large hall, where everything
was of pure silver; there sat the second sister at a silver
spinning-wheel.

"Oh, dear; oh, dear!" she said. "What do you want here?"

"I want to set you free from the troll," said the soldier.

"Pray do not stay, but go," said the _Princess_. "If he finds you here
he will take your life on the spot."

"That would be awkward--that is if I don't take his first," said the
soldier.

"Well, since you will stay," she said, "you will have to creep behind
the big brewing-vat in the front hall. But you must make haste and
come as soon as you hear me calling the hens."

First of all he had to try if he was able to swing the troll's sword,
which lay on the table; it was much larger and heavier than the first
one; he was hardly able to move it. He then took three draughts from
the horn and he could then lift it, and when he had taken three more
he could handle it as if it were a rolling pin.

Shortly afterwards he heard a heavy, rumbling noise that was quite
terrible, and directly afterwards a troll with six heads came in.

"Ugh, ugh!" he said as soon as he got his noses inside the door. "I
smell Christian blood and bone in my house."

"Yes, just think! A raven came flying past here with a thigh-bone,
which he dropped down the chimney," said the _Princess_. "I threw it
out, but the raven brought it back again. At last I got rid of it and
made haste to clean the room, but I suppose the smell is not quite
gone," she said.

"No, I can smell it well," said the troll; but he was tired and put
his heads in the _Princess's_ lap, and she went on scratching them
till they all fell a-snoring. Then she called the hens, and the
soldier came and cut off all the six heads as if they were set on
cabbage stalks.

She was no less glad than her elder sister, as you may imagine, and
danced and sang; but in the midst of their joy they remembered their
youngest sister. They went with the soldier across a large courtyard,
and, after walking through many, many rooms, he came to the hall of
gold where the third sister was.

She sat at a golden spinning-wheel spinning gold yarn, and the room
from ceiling to floor glistened and glittered till it hurt one's
eyes.

"Heaven preserve both you and me, what do you want here?" said the
_Princess_. "Go, go, else the troll will kill us both."

"Just as well two as one," answered the soldier. The _Princess_ cried
and wept; but it was all of no use, he must and would remain. Since
there was no help for it he would have to try if he could use the
troll's sword on the table in the front hall. But he was only just
able to move it; it was still larger and heavier than the other two
swords.

He then had to take the horn down from the wall and take three
draughts from it, but was only just able to stir the sword. When he
had taken three more draughts he could lift it, and when he had taken
another three he swung it as easily as if it had been a feather.

The _Princess_ then settled with the soldier to do the same as her
sisters had done. As soon as the troll was well asleep she would call
the hens, and he must then make haste and come in and put an end to
the troll.

All of a sudden they heard such a thundering, rambling noise, as if
the walls and roof were tumbling in.

"Ugh! Ugh! I smell Christian blood and bone in my house," said the
troll, sniffing with all his nine noses.

"Yes, you never saw the like! Just now a raven flew past here and
dropped a human bone down the chimney. I threw it out, but the raven
brought it back, and this went on for some time," said the _Princess_;
but she got it buried at last, she said, and she had both swept and
cleaned the place, but she supposed it still smelt.

"Yes, I can smell it well," said the troll.

"Come here and lie down in my lap and I will scratch your heads," said
the _Princess_. "The smell will be all gone when you awake."

He did so, and when he was snoring at his best she put stools and
cushions under the heads so that she could get away to call the hens.
The soldier then came in in his stockinged feet and struck at the
troll, so that eight of the heads fell off at one blow. But the sword
was too short and did not reach far enough; the ninth head woke up and
began to roar.

"Ugh! Ugh! I smell a Christian."

"Yes, here he is," answered the soldier, and before the troll could
get up and seize hold of him the soldier struck him another blow and
the last head rolled along the floor.

You can well imagine how glad the _Princesses_ became now that they no
longer had to sit and scratch the trolls' heads; they did not know how
they could do enough for him who had saved them. The youngest
_Princess_ took off her gold ring and knotted it in his hair. They
then took with them as much gold and silver as they thought they
could carry and set off on their way home.

[Illustration: As soon as they tugged at the rope, the Captain and the
Lieutenant pulled up the Princesses, the one after the other.]

As soon as they tugged at the rope the captain and the lieutenant
pulled up the _Princesses_, the one after the other. But when they
were safely up, the soldier thought it was foolish of him not to have
gone up before the _Princesses_, for he had not very much belief in
his comrades. He thought he would first try them, so he put a heavy
lump of gold in the basket and got out of the way. When the basket was
half-way up they cut the rope and the lump of gold fell to the bottom
with such a crash that the pieces flew about his ears.

"Now we are rid of him," they said, and threatened the _Princesses_
with their life if they did not say that it was they who had saved
them from the trolls. They were forced to agree to this, much against
their will, and especially the youngest _Princess_; but life was
precious, and so the two who were strongest had their way.

When the captain and lieutenant got home with the _Princesses_ you may
be sure there were great rejoicings at the palace. The _King_ was so
glad he didn't know which leg to stand on; he brought out his best
wine from his cupboard and wished the two officers welcome. If they
had never been honoured before they were honoured now in full measure,
and no mistake. They walked and strutted about the whole of the day,
as if they were the cocks of the walk, since they were now going to
have the _King_ for father-in-law. For it was understood they should
each have whichever of the _Princesses_ they liked and half the
kingdom between them. They both wanted the youngest _Princess_, but
for all they prayed and threatened her it was of no use; she would not
hear or listen to either.

They then asked the _King_ if they might have twelve men to watch over
her; she was so sad and melancholy since she had been in the mountain
that they were afraid she might do something to herself.

Yes, that they might have, and the _King_ himself told the watch they
must look well after her and follow her wherever she went and stood.

They then began to prepare for the wedding of the two eldest
sisters; it should be such a wedding as never was heard or spoken
of before, and there was no end to the brewing and the baking and the
slaughtering.

In the meantime the soldier walked and strolled about down in the
other world. He thought it was hard that he should see neither people
nor daylight any more; but he would have to do something, he thought,
and so for many days he went about from room to room and opened all
the drawers and cupboards and searched about on the shelves and looked
at all the fine things that were there. At last he came to a drawer in
a table, in which there lay a golden key; he tried this key to all the
locks he could find, but there was none it fitted till he came to a
little cupboard over the bed, and in that he found an old rusty
whistle. "I wonder if there is any sound in it," he thought, and put
it to his mouth. No sooner had he whistled than he heard a whizzing
and a whirring from all quarters, and such a large flock of birds
swept down, that they blackened all the field in which they settled.

[Illustration: No sooner had he whistled than he heard a whizzing and a
whirring from all quarters, and such a large flock of birds swept down
that they blackened all the field in which they settled.]

"What does our master want to-day?" they asked.

If he were their master, the soldier said, he would like to know if
they could tell him how to get up to the earth again. No, none of them
knew anything about that; "But our mother has not yet arrived," they
said; "if she can't help you, no one can."

So he whistled once more, and shortly heard something flapping its
wings far away, and then it began to blow so hard that he was carried
away between the houses like a wisp of hay across the courtyard, and
if he had not caught hold of the fence he would no doubt have been
blown away altogether.

A big eagle--bigger than you can imagine--then swooped down in front
of him.

"You come rather sharply," said the soldier.

"As you whistle so I come," answered the eagle. So he asked her if she
knew any means by which he could get away from the world in which they
were.

"You can't get away from here unless you can fly," said the eagle,
"but if you will slaughter twelve oxen for me, so that I can have a
really good meal, I will try and help you. Have you got a knife?"

"No, but I have a sword," he said. When the eagle had swallowed the
twelve oxen she asked the soldier to kill one more for victuals on the
journey. "Every time I gape you must be quick and fling a piece into
my mouth," she said, "else I shall not be able to carry you up to
earth."

He did as she asked him and hung two large bags of meat round her neck
and seated himself among her feathers. The eagle then began to flap
her wings and off they went through the air like the wind. It was as
much as the soldier could do to hold on, and it was with the greatest
difficulty he managed to throw the pieces of flesh into the eagle's
mouth every time she opened it.

At last the day began to dawn, and the eagle was then almost exhausted
and began flapping with her wings, but the soldier was prepared and
seized the last hind quarter and flung it to her. Then she gained
strength and brought him up to earth. When she had sat and rested a
while at the top of a large pine-tree she set off with him again at
such a pace that flashes of lightning were seen both by sea and land
wherever they went.

Close to the palace the soldier got off and the eagle flew home again,
but first she told him that if he at any time should want her he need
only blow the whistle and she would be there at once.

In the meantime everything was ready at the palace, and the time
approached when the captain and lieutenant were to be married with the
two eldest _Princesses_, who, however, were not much happier than
their youngest sister; scarcely a day passed without weeping and
mourning, and the nearer the wedding-day approached the more sorrowful
did they become.

At last the _King_ asked what was the matter with them; he thought it
was very strange that they were not merry and happy now that they
were saved and had been set free and were going to be married. They
had to give some answer, and so the eldest sister said they never
would be happy any more unless they could get such checkers as they
had played with in the blue mountain.

That, thought the _King_, could be easily managed, and so he sent word
to all the best and cleverest goldsmiths in the country that they
should make these checkers for the _Princesses_. For all they tried
there was no one who could make them. At last all the goldsmiths had
been to the palace except one, and he was an old, infirm man who had
not done any work for many years except odd jobs, by which he was just
able to keep himself alive. To him the soldier went and asked to be
apprenticed. The old man was so glad to get him, for he had not had an
apprentice for many a day, that he brought out a flask from his chest
and sat down to drink with the soldier. Before long the drink got into
his head, and when the soldier saw this he persuaded him to go up to
the palace and tell the _King_ that he would undertake to make the
checkers for the _Princesses_.

He was ready to do that on the spot; he had made finer and grander
things in his day, he said. When the _King_ heard there was some one
outside who could make the checkers he was not long in coming out.

"Is it true what you say, that you can make such checkers as my
daughters want?" he asked.

"Yes, it is no lie," said the goldsmith; that he would answer for.

"That's well!" said the _King_. "Here is the gold to make them with;
but if you do not succeed you will lose your life, since you have come
and offered yourself, and they must be finished in three days."

The next morning when the goldsmith had slept off the effects of the
drink, he was not quite so confident about the job. He wailed and wept
and blew up his apprentice, who had got him into such a scrape while
he was drunk. The best thing would be to make short work of himself at
once, he said, for there could be no hope for his life; when the best
and grandest goldsmiths could not make such checkers, was it likely
that he could do it?

"Don't fret on that account," said the soldier, "but let me have the
gold and I'll get the checkers ready in time; but I must have a room
to myself to work in," he said. This he got, and thanks into the
bargain.

The time wore on, and the soldier did nothing but lounge about, and
the goldsmith began to grumble, because he would not begin with the
work.

"Don't worry yourself about it," said the soldier, "there is plenty of
time! If you are not satisfied with what I have promised you had
better make them yourself." The same thing went on both that day and
the next; and when the smith heard neither hammer nor file from the
soldier's room the whole of the last day, he quite gave himself up for
lost; it was now no use to think any longer about saving his life, he
thought.

But when the night came on the soldier opened the window and blew his
whistle. The eagle then came and asked what he wanted.

"Those gold checkers, which the _Princesses_ had in the blue
mountain," said the soldier; "but you'll want something to eat first,
I suppose? I have two ox carcases lying ready for you in the hay-loft
yonder; you had better finish them," he said. When the eagle had done
she did not tarry, and long before the sun rose she was back again
with the checkers. The soldier then put them under his bed and lay
down to sleep.

Early next morning the goldsmith came and knocked at his door.

"What are you after now again?" asked the soldier. "You rush about
enough in the day, goodness knows! If one cannot have peace when one
is in bed, whoever would be an apprentice here?" said he.

Neither praying nor begging helped that time; the goldsmith must and
would come in, and at last he was let in.

And then, you may be sure, there was soon an end to his wailing.

But still more glad than the goldsmith were the _Princesses_, when he
came up to the palace with the checkers, and gladdest of all was the
youngest _Princess_.

"Have you made them yourself?" she asked.

"No, if I must speak the truth, it is not I," he said, "but my
apprentice, who has made them."

"I should like to see that apprentice," said the _Princess_. In fact
all three wanted to see him, and if he valued his life, he would have
to come.

He was not afraid, either of women-folk or grand-folk, said the
soldier, and if it could be any amusement to them to look at his rags,
they should soon have that pleasure.

The youngest _Princess_ recognised him at once; she pushed the
soldiers aside and ran up to him, gave him her hand, and said:

"Good day, and many thanks for all you have done for us. It is he who
freed us from the trolls in the mountain," she said to the _King_. "He
is the one I will have!" and then she pulled off his cap and showed
them the ring she had tied in his hair.

It soon came out how the captain and lieutenant had behaved, and so
they had to pay the penalty of their treachery with their lives, and
that was the end of their grandeur. But the soldier got the golden
crown and half the kingdom, and married the youngest _Princess_.

At the wedding they drank and feasted both well and long; for feast
they all could, even if they could not find the _Princesses_, and if
they have not yet done feasting and drinking they must be at it
still.




THE CAT ON THE DOVREFELL


Once on a time there was a man up in Finnmark who had caught a great
white bear, which he was going to take to the King of Denmark. Now, it
so fell out, that he came to the _Dovrefell_ just about Christmas Eve,
and there he turned into a cottage where a man lived, whose name was
Halvor, and asked the man if he could get house-room there for his
bear and himself.

"Heaven never help me, if what I say isn't true!" said the man; "but
we can't give anyone house-room just now, for every Christmas Eve such
a pack of _Trolls_ come down upon us, that we are forced to flit, and
haven't so much as a house over our own heads, to say nothing of
lending one to anyone else."

"Oh?" said the man, "if that's all, you can very well lend me your
house; my bear can lie under the stove yonder, and I can sleep in the
side-room."

Well, he begged so hard, that at last he got leave to stay there; so
the people of the house flitted out, and before they went, everything
was got ready for the _Trolls_; the tables were laid, and there was
rice porridge, and fish boiled in lye, and sausages, and all else that
was good, just as for any other grand feast.

So, when everything was ready, down came the _Trolls_. Some were
great, and some were small; some had long tails, and some had no tails
at all; some, too, had long, long noses; and they ate and drank, and
tasted everything. Just then one of the little _Trolls_ caught sight
of the white bear, who lay under the stove; so he took a piece of
sausage and stuck it on a fork, and went and poked it up against the
bear's nose, screaming out:

"Pussy, will you have some sausage?"

Then the white bear rose up and growled, and hunted the whole pack of
them out of doors, both great and small.

Next year Halvor was out in the wood, on the afternoon of Christmas
Eve, cutting wood before the holidays, for he thought the _Trolls_
would come again; and just as he was hard at work, he heard a voice in
the wood calling out:

"Halvor! Halvor!"

"Well," said Halvor, "here I am."

"Have you got your big cat with you still?"

"Yes, that I have," said Halvor; "she's lying at home under the stove,
and what's more, she has now got seven kittens, far bigger and fiercer
than she is herself."

"Oh, then, we'll never come to see you again," bawled out the _Troll_
away in the wood, and he kept his word; for since that time the
_Trolls_ have never eaten their Christmas brose with Halvor on the
_Dovrefell_.




ONE'S OWN CHILDREN ARE ALWAYS PRETTIEST


A sportsman went out once into a wood to shoot, and he met a _Snipe_.

"Dear friend," said the _Snipe_, "don't shoot my children!"

"How shall I know your children?" asked the _Sportsman_. "What are
they like?"

"Oh!" said the _Snipe_, "mine are the prettiest children in all the
wood."

"Very well," said the _Sportsman_, "I'll not shoot them; don't be
afraid."

But for all that, when he came back, there he had a whole string of
young snipes in his hand which he had shot.

"Oh, oh!" said the _Snipe_, "why did you shoot my children after
all?"

"What! these your children!" said the _Sportsman_; "why, I shot the
ugliest I could find, that I did!"

"Woe is me!" said the _Snipe_; "don't you know that each one thinks
his own children the prettiest in the world?"




                  *       *       *       *       *




Transcriber's Notes:

  Illustrations have been moved closer to their relevant paragraphs.
  The page numbers in the List of Illustrations do not reflect the new
  placement of the illustrations, but are as in the original.

  Author's archaic and variable spelling and hyphenation is
  preserved.

  Author's punctuation style is preserved.

  Passages in italics indicated by _underscores_.

  Passages in bold indicated by =equal signs=.

  Typographical problems have been changed and are listed below.


Transcriber's Changes:

  TOC: Page number for "The Cat on the Dovrefell" was corrected from
           '201' to '200'

  TOC: Page number for "One's Own Children are Always Prettiest" was
           corrected from '205' to '203'

  Page 25: Was 'over over' (the _Prince_ made as if he drank, but
           threw it =over= his shoulder)

  Page 38: Added italics (But the =_Troll_=, as he lay in bed, swore
           it was all a lie.)

  Page 43: Added 'to': Was 'it her' (he pulled open his waistcoat and
           shirt to show =it to her=.)

  Page 55: Added italics (Some time after this, the =_King_= went away
           to the wars)

  Page 59: Standardised hyphenation from 'witchwoman' ("Well, you
           needn't be," said the =witch-woman=. "All that can be set
           right in a twinkling)

  Page 94: Removed extra double-quote ("To Whiteland," said the
           _King_; =and= then he told him all that had befallen him.)

  Page 125: Added italics (Then back came the =_Giant_=.)

  Page 155: Was 'again.' (home to fetch something to hew their way
            through the wood. But at last the _Horse_ said =again:=)

                  *       *       *       *       *






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